As The Snow Melts
by BakaAndTensaiProductionz
Summary: When Akiko and her twin brother get seperated after she has to kill her own father and others she flee's to Konoha where others with Kekkei Genkai can live in harmony. But her being mute, and her boy like face makes everyone think she is a boy. But she tries her best to deal with things the way her brother would, with a smile and kindess. But that only gives her more fangirls...
1. Chapter 1

Don't wish me happiness - I don't expect to be happy it's gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor, I will need them all. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

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I used to live a simple life. I was born on a snowy day in January, right after my brother Haku was born. It was a simple, peaceful life, just Onii-san, Kaa-san, Tou-san, and me. But the peaceful life changed when I was young.

I wasn't your normal child. Instead of enjoying playing outside all the time, I read inside, and if I did go out side, it would be because Haku asked me to. Haku was always cheerful, kind, and would protect me if some of the boys in town were mean to me. I had a kind elderly neighbor named Hikari who told me about her days as a kunoichi, told me about all her exciting missions, and even taught me the substitution and basic clone jutsu. She let me borrow books about all the Hidden Villages and was always kind. I loved my life, but it changed on a normal snowy day...

I was reading a book about the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konaha, while Haku was playing with water. "Akiko!" he exclaimed. I looked up at him with curious eyes, I saw him controlling water in his hands.

"Onii-san! How did you do that?! Do you think I can do it too?" I asked. "Of course you can! When you master this, you and I can be great ninja like Hikari-san!" He said with a smile. I put my book in my lap and scooted closer to the water. I tried to get the water to do what I told it to, but all I could do was make it lift, ever so slightly.

"Ah, I can't do it..." I said. "You made it move some! With practice, you'll be able to be better than me at it! I know it!" Haku said. I gave him a smile, my big brother, he could always make me smile. Kaa-san came outside and he ran over to her.

"Look, Kaa-chan! Look at what I can do! Isn't beautiful?!" He exclaimed. I ran over too with the water barely floating over my palm in a small ball. "I can do it too, Kaa-san!" I exclaimed with glee.

"NO IT'S NOT BEAUTIFUL!" she yelled. She grabbed our hands shaking them roughly leaving a bruise on my wrist.

"Kaa-san stop it! Please what did we do?!" I yelled. I heard Haku yelling along with me. Suddenly she let me go and slapped Haku across the face. "Onii-chan!" I yelled, quickling getting up and running to him. I wanted to shield him from another possible strike.

"Oh, Haku, Akiko, I'm so sorry." Kaa-chan said pulling us towards her for a hug. I cried, but I pushed her off of me, grabbing my near by book, and running away to our small house.

I read to Haku, as he cried about an hour later. I read to him about the Land of Fire, Konoha, The Village Hidden in the Leaves. He soon fell asleep, and I fell asleep next to him.

We woke up when we heard a scream. He was about to run out when I grabbed is shirt,

"We have to be quiet, onii-chan. In scary situations, stay quiet until you know have to scream." I said. We tiptoed downstairs and looked and saw Kaa-san on the floor, blood all over her. "Kaa-san!" Haku yelled. The men inside looked at him and they gave him a look of hatred. I came out and saw the bloody bats in their hands. "Onii-san, RUN!" I yelled. "Wha-What?" he said. The men walked closer and we both began to back into the front door.

"Run as fast as you can, away from here, and don't look back. Run away." I whispered to him.

"What about you?" he asked quickly. "I'm gonna be strong, cause you said that your always your strongest when protecting your precious person. Your precious to me, so I will protect you." I said. He had tears running down his face, I had tears running down my face. We opened the door and he quickly ran to the nearby woods. I stood outside ready to serverely hurt anyone who wanted to try getting pass me.

My hands were trembling, my knee's were wanting to buckle, and I could barely breath. _I can do this..._ I thought. They all ran at me, beating me down, I tried to get them but I couldn't land a hit. Suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore, And I felt power flurry inside of me. Suddenly, the hitting stopped, I looked up and all the men that were hitting me had ice spikes impaling them. I just saw my father, he was the last one standing. He had tears running down my face.

"My-My little girl." he sobbed. With tears running down my face I said, **"I am no longer your w-w-weak little girl. You successfully killed her. I am no l-l-longer her, I a-am Aki, and y-y-you are nothing but the man I will hate for the rest off eternity**.**"** I sent an ice spike at him, and he was impaled. He looked at me with sad eyes and he fell down, dead with a single tear running down his face.

I got down on my knees, and began to openly weep out of fear. I heard movement from behind me, it was the elderly woman, Hikari. "I see, you are a descendent of the Yuki Clan..." she murmered.

She gave me a small smile. "The village is on their way in quite the large mob, and I am very scared for your safety, child. I made a small bag for you, so that you will have your best chance. Travel to Konaha, I used to live there, and they openly accept those with kekkei genkai. I have a forehead protector, and a letter along with many other things in this bag. Show those to the Hokage when you get there, he owes me a favor, and he will accept you. Now run into the woods and while running through, attempt to find Haku. If you can't, go on to Konoha. You will be safe here. I will hold the villagers off. I can buy you some time, but I am not as young as I used to be." she said.

I was weeping and ran to give her a hug. "Arigato, Obaa-san" I whispered. She hugged me back, and with tears running down her face she said, "Good bye, daughter. Now run." she said. I took off running, straight into the woods never to see Hikari, again.


	2. Chapter 2

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life, It goes on. ~Robert Frost

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One of the first things I did once I ran far enough away, was cut my long hair. I meant it when I said I would no longer be his little girl. I grabbed the kunai in the bag and easily cut all my hair off. I let it fly away in the wind, it was like saying goodbye to the old me, and hello to the new me. Aki Yuki... For a little bit, I stayed in a nearby town, trying to find food. I looked in trashcans, begged at stores, and got little food. And I was shivering in the old, torn t shirt and too big pants. I was sitting outside of a small restaraunt I was kicked out of. Many people passed by me saying things like,

"Poor kid... Out here all alone." "He will never survive out here." I cried, letting many sobs and tears come out. The tears almost freezing in the cold. A tall man passed by me, but he stopped. He stuck a grey tobogen on my head.

"Keep your head warm kid, and try your best to survive." he said before walking on, easily blending in with the crowd. The hat warmed my head. It was a basic hat that had a small pin on it that had a snowflake. I smiled and kept it on my head. It was the first time I felt comforable and not useless, since I left Hikari. But I knew soon I would have to go on, to Konoha.

It was hard trying to run to Konoha, to run across nations, with little food, little water, and saddness. I slept for few hours, and could barely get anymore sleep. I had nightmares of the faces of the people I killed, yelling at me, calling me a monster. My mother told me it was my own fault. And Haku, sweet, sweet Haku, he said I abandoned him. But truthfully I was afraid, some one, somewhere, would come for me. Or Shinigami-sama would come and take me away as punish me for what I did. How, how could I deal with this? A week later, I made it into the Land of Fire. I crossed the border with little trouble. A scary man, he tried to steal from me, but I couldn't move. I was so fearful, I didn't want to kill I ended up freezing his legs in a block of ice, leaving him there unable to walk.

When a few nights later, I was able to see the gates of Konoha. I sprinted towards it, with tears in my eyes. Probably from my allergies, and from the happiness of finally making it to Konaha. I ran to the large gate and was immediatly stopped by a tall man with a leaf forehead protector, so a Shinobi. I went into my small bag, and he immediatly tensed, most likely expecting me to attack him. I gave him the forehead protector and letter.

He scanned through it, "I assume you want to come into the village?" he asked. I nodded, "Okay, I will take you to the Hokage, he will be interested in seeing this." he said. He easily picked me up and he sprinted to a large building that I assumed was where the Hokage was.

"Hokage-sama, we have a young boy that has news about Hikari for you." the Shinobi said. The Hokage's eyes widened. The first thing I noticed about him was that he looked old, I mean really old. I shyly walked in. I bowed down before him, the Shinobi that escorted me gave him the letter and forehead protector.

"Hikari-chan..." he muttered reading the letter. He looked at me with a sullen look. "Hikari said that she wants you to stay here... Because she feels you will be accepted despite having a kekkei genkai." Hokage-sama said. I nodded.

"Do you have a family?" he asked. I shook my head, "Okay, we will have something arranged, but I need to do something since you are from a different Nation. You don'lt mind having someone coming to talk to you do you?" I shook my head again, since I wouldn't talk to them anyway. "Kenji, will you send for Inoichi?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

The man that later came in had blue green eyes and long blond hair that was in a ponytail that reached down her back. "Is this the kid?" he asked when he saw me. The Hokage nodded his head. He calmly walked towards me. I stepped backwards slightly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." Suddenly things went black.

"Whoa... I wonder what happened. All I remember is that blond bub... Hm... Is this the mindscape I have heard about?" I asked. My words seemed to flutter around me. Suddenly I began to see snow, and different doors leading to several different paths.

"This is your mindscape." A voice said from behind me. I jumped and turned around, "It's the blond bub!" I yelled. He gave a small chuckle. "I am Inoichi Yamanaka, I am only here to make sure your not a threat to Konaha." he said.

"O-Okay, bub, b-b-but I'm warning you there is some things in here you may not want to see, and that I don't want to see," I said. He nodded, "I understand, if you want, you can wait out here and I will search for anything that we need to know about." he said. I nodded.

I waited out in the middle of a snowy field, a snowy field in my mind, I might add. But looking at everything around me, it was weird how much it reminded me of home. Soon Inoichi appeared.

"Hey, Blond Bub-san? Why can I talk in here, when I am silent in the outside world. I don't want to talk, and I don't like talking in here." I said. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't call me that... And the mind has no language and here you say pretty much what you are thinking." he said.

"Oh... Okay. So did you get enough to say I am not a threat?" I asked. He gave me a smile and nodded. "Good, now we can leave this place. It makes me think too much of the past." I said. He nodded. He did a handsign and I woke up in a hospital.

"It's nice to see your awake Akiko. Or Aki." Hokage said. I nodded. "You will be admitted into the Academy, and as a boy so you can keep your promise." he said. I gave him a smile and bowed down to him. The Hokage was so kind, and generous.

"But for you to start normally, you will be older than everyone else." I nodded eagerly and gave a thumbs up sign. He grinned, ""I will send someone over to give you the necassary paperwork." he said. I nodded, and he left as a medic-nin came in.

That's when my new life started in Konoha, The Village Hidden in the Leaves.


	3. Chapter 3

Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything. ~Muhammad Ali

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**Hello, Reyna here from BakaandTenseiProductions. Of course, I had one of my many baka moments, I didn't explain things enough, so for that amazingly awesome reviewer, I have to tell you the meaning of Akiko's actions. She is a girl, born a girl, and always was a girl (No sexy jutsu here), and one of the last things she tolded her father was that she was no longer his little girl. In her mind, that means, she can live a boy. And in the (or this, or mine)Shinobi world, the male ninjas seem to be seen as stronger. So she pulls a Haruhi (I hope you get that referance) and just lives as boy. Which she never really says she is a boy, but she never she's not a boy. Cause she's mute. So people just assume she's a boy because of her boyish face. (Kinda like how Haku is a boy and looks like a girl, but opposite).**

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It had been a few days since I had arrived from the hospital. Though not leaving because the medic nins wanted to make sure I was good to leave, I learned one important thing. I'm super allergic to pollen. I didn't have to worry about it much since I was living in a village that was snowy normally. But in Konaha, there is pollen EVERYWHERE. It was not enjoyable signing papers that were soon turned into tissues. The Hokage is in for a small surprise whenever he gets my papers... Oops.

The next day was my first day at the Ninja Academy, and I can tell you I was nervous. I wasn't really scared, considering I had no reason to have real fear. But it was my first day of school. I knew how to read, write, and do math. But, I didn'lt want to get bullied all the time like I did at the Village, but I was a whiny weak girl then. I'm Aki now, no longer Akiko, strong, capable. But I felt cold inside, I didn't know if it was from nerves or my mind and body getting used to not having Akiko around.

So, I decided to do what Haku would have told me to do, "Just smile and keep going." and Hikari, "Life is like snow, it will be cold and dreary at first. But when Spring sets in, its warm and everythings comes to life in happiness and color.""

I smiled at the thought of both of the things that Hikari and Haku told me. I walked inside and went into the room that the Hokage wanted me to go into. I held my breath, and walked in with a small smile. A man with a scar across his face, a ponytail, and a smile greeted me.

"You must be the new kid I was supposed to get. My name is Iruka Umino, it's nice to meet you, Aki." he said. I gave him a small smile and a slight bow. He gave me a strange but kind look.

"Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?" I stood there with a small smile looking up at the man._ Are you kidding, man? I'm mute if you can't tell... _I thought to the man, but still kept the outer small smile. There was a girl in the second row that looked awfully familiar.

"I CALL DIBS ON HIM!" she said pointing at me. "..." I sweatdropped keeping my small smile.

"No way I want him!"

"He will be mine!" I looked at Iruka-sensei, he sweatdropped, and looked at me with eyes that almost said, 'I'm sorry you have to experience the pain your about to go through.' I looked back at the class and scanned faces.

"You can sit in the empty seat next to Naruto. Naruto?! WAKE UP!" He yelled at a blond boy who yelled, immediatly woken up and falling off his chair. I slowly walked to my seat next to the blond boy, sat down, and gave him a small smile. He gave me a strange stare.

"Who are you?" he asked. I took some paper out of my bag.

**I'm Aki Yuki, nice to meet you!**

He read it and looked up at me. "Can you not talk?" he asked. I shook my head. "Naruto! Stop distracting, Aki-san!" Iruka-sensei exclaimed. After a few hours over Tactics and the Mathmatical formula for throwing a kunai (angles, force, etc.), we were on at lunch. I was hiding alone, the girls would chase me, asking me to choose one of them. They were really scary. I ate my small crude sandwich, and tugged on my hat. Suddenly, I heard a sob.

I followed the sound of the sob. I saw a girl with shaggy pink hair that was crying. I took my small sketchbook and pen I ended up taking with me everywhere, and wrote her a note. I put a hand on her shoulder, she jumped and looked up at me. I gave her a smile. I handed her the note and she slowly opened it, seemed almost scared to see what was inside.

** Don't be sad! And don't cry, because things always get better! Life is like snow,it will be cold and dreary at first. But once Spring sets in, its warm and everything comes to life with warm and happiness!**

She read it, and looked up at me with a small smile, almost like mine. She seemed happy, and I walked away, I felt good, that I did something nice. '_This is the type of thing Haku would do. I hope your proud that I'm living on being kind to others like you. I really hope your not dead, but if you hear this, I really hope your proud.' _I thought to myself. But my feeling of being a nice person was interuppted by a sneeze. And another. And another. _'l really need to invest in some allergy medicine.'_

When we went back to class, it was time for Taijutsu.

"Do you know any Taijutsu?" Iruka-sensei asked me. I put nodded though I knew some from Hikari, she taught me the basics.

"Okay, we'll start your sparring with Sasuke, so we'll know exactly what level your at. I moved my eyes to the young boy with black spiky hair and obsidian like eyes who smirked at me. I gave him a small smile and I gave a slight nod to Iruka-sensei. We went in front of the class, "Okay boys, no chakra, and Sasuke, go somewhat easy on him." Iruka-sensei said.

"I make no promises." he said getting in his stance. I knew I was gonna get my butt kicked, but I was gonna use my speed to make it tough for him.

"Begin!"

He sped towards me. '_Very fast, Taijutsu is amazing for someone his age. He's using alot of his strength is his punchs and kicks. If I use my speed, I can possibly tire him out thus making it easier for a beginner like me to beat him. Or get close to beating.' _ I thought to myself. He threw fast and brutal punches and kicks, and did my best at dodging and blocking. But if I used my arms to block, it left a terrible bruise.

But progressively his punches began to come slower and less brutal. That is when I attacked. I used a small bit of Water Fist, the taijutsu Hikari showed me, and did fluid punches. And I did Hikari's Modified Water Fist when you use Water Fist, and with knowledge of all the bodies pressure points, aiming for all of them, causing severe pain and possible fatality.

Yet, I wasn't all that good at it, but I knew where a few minor pressure points were. I caught the one on the side of his neck, and the one on his lower neck going towards his chest. He began to gag, I had him. He ran at me, and the unexpected happened. I sneezed and he punched me causing me to hit the ground roughly. "Sasuke wins the sparring match." Iruka-sensei said. I did my best getting up.

"Your weak. Your punches felt like feathers, and your speed was barely above average. Yet you didn't instantly lose against me. You are almost to fit to be my rival. Yet your still too weak. " He said, and walked away. "Sasuke you have to do the-"

"Not doing it!" he said. I gave him a weird look and looked up at Iruka-sensei.

"..."

"Er... Next spar! Kiba versus..."

Yeah, I made myself the object of desire to strange young girls, a possible rival, and a possible friend who seems to double as an idiot. Then again, I made someone happy. So I accomplished something, but then I just had to get better at taijutsu. Because Aki is strong, and he won't be beaten down easily.

**Blame the light and fluffy parts on Serenade from Fruits Basket. And it was super hard to write a fight while listening to this cute song. Then at the end I listen to the Attack on Titan making the last part, in my opinoin, better than the rest. But I suck at fighting parts as you can see, so this can be good practice,eh? I'm trying to update everyday, and I'm doing okay right now, but the wondorful world of anime calls to me. Oh, Kuroko's Basketball, so entertaining! **


	4. Chapter 4

Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope. -Aristotle

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So apparently I was the only one who even came close to beating Sasuke who is of the Uchiha clan, a very respected and strong clan from Konaha. I guess people thought I was strong, and it seemed many people didn't like me. But the girls from this nation are really freaky! They always follow me to my small apartment, and they enjoy hugging on me. I smile at them, I guess that doesn't help the excessive stalking. And the nice pink girl, she began spending time with the strange familiar blond girl. I see her beginning to come out of her shell more and more. And sadly, she started acting scary like the others. I was one of two victims of this. The other is Sasuke Uchiha. Things always seem to go back to the spiky haired boy.

A few days after my loss, though I gained alot of respect from Naruto about it, I felt sad. And mad. I wanted to be strong, and I had to be strong enough to make Haku proud. I went to Iruka-sensei after class giving him a note.

**Is there anyone that can help me get better at taijutsu?**

He looked at the paper and looked back up at me. He gave me a smile. "Taijutsu is not my best subject. But I know some one you can ask, but not many people go to him for advice because he tends to be, err, enthusiatic." He said. I nodded, and looked up almost asking him to tell me more. "He's a taijutsu master, his name is Maito Gai. You'll know him when you see him. He is most likely at the Training Grounds right now. Look for a green jumpsuit and eyebrows you could see from a mile away." he said. I gave him a small bow and ran off to find the strangest sounding man ever. I ran to the Training Grounds and I scanned for a man that fit the description I was given.

I saw a man running around the village saying some thing about 'Youth' I narrowed my eyes and saw he fit the description. Plus, it would be hard not to notice someone with a bright green jumpsuit. I wanted to yell for him to stop, but I couldn't make my voice yell. I began to run after him, but I soon got very tired, and I lost sight of him. I had to sit down. As I was still panting, I heard someone run up from behind me. "Why Hello there! Maito Gai here, and I see you are tired! Were you running around the village building up your speed and stamina!? How youthful!" he said with a thumbs up. I gave him the note I prepared (Yes, I already had something prepared).

**Hi, Gai-san. I'm Aki Yuki and I'm an Academy Student. I'm not very good at Taijutsu and I want to be good at it so I can be strong despite me being small and weak. Please train me!**

He read and looked up at me. I could almost hear the 'What the heck kid? Can't you speak?' but instead I got a smile. "You are the perfect representation of Youth! Despite you being young and weak and seeming to have a delicate structure, you want to be strong against the odds! I will train you! You will be strong, YOSH!" he said dragging me on a sprint around Konaha, five times.

When he finally calmed down, we sat down at a small clearing. "Do you happen to own any weights?" he asked. I shook my head, no. He pointed at the orange leg warmer looking things on his legs. "Get some that are like these, and a jumpsuit! You can't train without a jumpsuit!" he said. I gave him a small smile 'That will be so embarrassing and weird...' I thought to myself. They also sounded expensive. Maybe I'd have to eat a sandwich instead of going out for ramen with Naruto...

Afterwards, I went to the ninja store. I saw weights, and I saw better looking ones that were like bands that you put chakra in and it weighs down depending on how much chakra you put in them. They looked like normal little white bands, but I went ahead and bought them, though they were more expensive than the other weights. 'Looks like no jumpsuit for me...' I thought smiling with a mischievious look in my eyes.

"AKI-KUN!" I heard a yell from behind me. I turned around and a familiar girl latched on to me. I saw blond hair and I knew it was, Ino. "Hey, Aki-kun! My dad and I were going to go get sushi! You want to come with! Daddy won't mind, I promise!" she said with such a, whats the word, 'youthful' smile. She didn't really let me shake or nod my head, because she was already dragging me to her dad. I looked up and saw none other than Blond Bub. "Ino? Is this a friend of yours?" he asked lifting an eyebrow at me. I immediatly moved my shoulders up and down in the "I don't know" position.

"This is Aki-kun! I loooove him!" she exclaimed. His eyes instantly bulged, I looked away, obviously feeling super uncomfortable about this situation. "W-wha-what? Really!?" he said. She nodded enthusiatically. He sweatdropped. "He's gonna eat with us, okaaaay?!" she said. "Well we don't know if he's busy or not..." he said. "He's not busy! Right Aki-kun?!" she looked at me with pleading eyes. I shook my head, "See!?" she said. Blond Bub sighed. "Okay, he can come eat with us. And I will pay, Aki-kun since you seem like a nice kid." he said. We went in a fairly nice restaraunt, but I felt like a stuck out. I was wearing really dirty, sweaty, generic clothes with the hat that I never seemed to take off. Just light grey shorts and a white t-shirt that looked an odd shade of brown and yellow. Dirt and sweat, I could never quite get all those stains out.

But, I had a good time. Though it was mostly Ino talking, and Blond Bub making small talk with me. Well small talk as in, he talk softly and his nod or shake my head. But it was free dinner. No regerts. Totally worth it. Oh how I love free food...

**A/N-2/2/14 I apologize for the formatting issues, they will be fixed soon! At Chapter, I believe, 10 or so it gets easier to read**


	5. Chapter 5

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. ~Benjamin Franklin

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I really do wish that I got better at Taijutsu and became even stronger than I expected. But that was not the case at all. I really suck at taijutsu, even with a master teaching me. I'm slow at learning this kind of physical stuff. Though, Gai-sensei told me I was improving everyday. One thing I can say that had gotten better was my speed. The weights, they made me sore, and it makes it hard to do simple things, I can feel myself getting stronger. Though that doesn't make up for my poor stance, terrible instincts, and clumsy slip ups... But Gai-sensei makes sure to tell me not to give up. Not that I was gonna even think about that anyway. I was way too stubborn for that. Soon we began to learn about weapons. Sasuke already seemed to know how to throw a kunai and shuriken. Me on the other hand, NOPE! I have cuts on my fingers from that stupid shuriken thing, and the kunai, I can barely throw it more than 4 feet away from me. And that's a still target and I still couldn't hit the bulls eye. Throwing weapons... Most definatly not my forte.

And Naruto laughed. And laughed at my supreme epic fail. What was really sad, was that he was doing better than me. Naruto Uzumaki... He's an idiot, but still was physically strong. Mentally... NOPE! The guy is my friend but he is not the brightest crayon in the Crayola box if you know what I mean. Though around the end of the year, I had turned 10, a few things happened. First the Uchiha Massacre happened. Sasuke wasn't at school for about a week, and when he came back, he was cold. I went to the hospital and sat with him but he kept glaring at a random wall, pretty much ignoring my prescence. And, Iruka-sensei wanted me to move up a few grades. He thought I could easily be in the class with other 10 year olds instead of the one with 7-8 year olds. I most definatly said no to that. I had friends in my class. I had Naruto and I enjoyed having silent chats with Shino, and playing Go! with Shikamaru, and munching on food with Chouji. And Ino and all the girls though all being very scary, they were so youthful and full of life and funness. I really couldn't give it all up. So, I declines. Plus the 10 year olds would be way better than me at weaponary and taijutsu. I don't think I would be able to handle it. Really, I had a better chance with 8 year olds.

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**Sorry this the filler for a small time skip! Not exactly to Canon but maybe about a year or two before. And I hope you all like this story. I'm trying to like have little to no romance, I don't know whether I'll have some later in the Naruto story. But not now, or anytime soon. And I really hope for a review or two, because they really help me get motivated.**

**And Anime Song of the day is... Maji Love 1000% from Uta wa Prince-sama. I belive it was the ending for the Season 1 of Uta Wa Prince-Sama. Awesome show with some catchy music! It's a cute song that I love. And the anime is also recommended! And for those of you that are fans of the show... DID YOU HERE THERE WILL BE A SEASON THREE IN 2015! Too long to wait, but it's a good thing to remember! There is also gonna be a School Days 3DS game (Or Visual Novel for those who are familiar with those)coming out. I doubt it will be in the states, but I just hope they don't make an anime out of this one too. School Days... *shudders* The horror... ANYWAY, Please review if you like, and if you don't. I really need some feedback! But you don't have to if you don't want too. Heh, okay, I will update tomarrow! Bye-nya!**


	6. Chapter 6

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. ~Leo Buscaglia

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Naruto Uzumaki. One of my best friends. Though I have few friends anyway, he's my best friend. He's a kind hearted kid with a very sunny smile. But don't try to think I'm stupid, I had noticed the way the boy was treated. People were cold to him. They even spat at him, and it was sickening. He was my friend. Though I never spoke to him, I still listened to him. Even if I didn't prank with him, I understood him. I thought that he possibly had a kekkei genkai, maybe that was people hated him. But here, those with kekkei genkai were somewhat looked up to. Like the Uchiha clan and Hyuuga clan. I was very curious, but I wasn't going to pry into something that was none of my business. I remember Kaa-san telling me, "If you want to make friends, don't try to pry into their lives. They will tell you everything as the friendship grows."

But, just because I didn't pry didn't mean I wouldn't defend him. Cause I did. When kids were mean to him, he'd sometimes cry or just look sad. I'd stand right there next to him, with an obvious anger in my eyes, while smiling at them. I was known as 'The Guy who almost Beat Sasuke', and I guess I was somewhat feared. But Sasuke never let me beat him. He was cold and I could never get him on the ground. My Taijutsu sucked, My weaponry sucked, my chakra control was somewhat okay, but my tactics and intelligence seemed to be higher than others. I beat Sasuke when it came to Test grades I must say, and I am proud of that.

Though kunai and shurikan, I just still couldn't do. But Gai-sensei taught me a cool move to possibly make weaponry not so terrible for me. He called Reverse Weaponry.

"Okay, I have a solution to your problem with kunai!" he exclaimed as I was trying to throw kunai and actually hit the target from 10 feet away. "..." I dropped my kunai and gave him an excited face. "It's called Reverse Weaponry. When a kunai is thrown at you, you use chakra to enhance your speed to the side, and while it passes you, you take your palm and push the dull end around you, throwing it back at the attacker at a quicker speed. It would take alot of practice, but it has proven to be helpful to those who don't like using weapons." he said. I gave him a confused look. He ran towards me, about 3 feet away. He gave me a kunai, "Throw it at me." he said. It made sense he would stand close to me since I can only hit someone with a kunai if their about 4 feet away from me. I threw it at him as fast as I could, as it passed him, he instantly spinned around sending the kunai right back towards me. It ended up barely breezing past my face sticking into a tree. _Whoa... That's cool. _I thought. We went through the steps, it was hard, but it seemed to fit me better than normal weapons.

A few months later, it was easier. I got to the point where Gai-sensei would throw them to me from behind the target, I would have it come back to him, hit in the bulls eye of the target, at 20 feet away. Pretty impressive I would say for someone who can't do throwing weapons.

My Taijutsu, still sucked. Gai-sensei recognized I knew the basics of the Modified Water Fist. He began to teach me more of it, I was no where good as Gai-sensei or Hikari. But, better than the day before!

Life was good, I could sometimes find myself laughing, yet no sound would come out, but when a small squeak would come out, I was still so happy. With my friends, Naruto and Shino. Life was fun. I could almost forget about the things from Akiko's life. And really, I didn't mind that all. To just let myself smile and laugh at the antics of Naruto, share the respective silence with Shino, to train with Gai-sensei, to run from Fan Girls, and to fuel the one-sided rivalry with Sasuke, though I have no idea how I did it. I think this is the thing that Gai-sensei refers to when he says Youth. The light hearted, the fluffy, the easy times, the hard times, Youth. Thats what I think it truly is.

**Last filler, and I think I'm about to go to Canon. I'm really excited about it! Especially the Wave Arc. Twins meeting again, both thought each other was long dead. Ohhhh FUN! I am like hyper about this! I might update or just write the next few chapter cause I am so surprised. Now huge question!**

**4 Man Team- Naruto, Aki, Sasuke, and Sakura**

**OR**

**3 Man Team- Naruto, Aki, and Sasuke? **

**I don't know which to do... I have thinking to do**


	7. Chapter 7

Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting. ~Napoleon Hill

* * *

It was about time. I was 14 and my class would be graduating in a few days. Me, I didn't know if I was exactly ready for real Shinobi missions. I had started with nunchaku (nunchuks) a few years before, and was halfway decent with them. I had gotten to where I could do The Reverse Weaponry Technique with one hand at an astonishing speed. My chakra control was a lot better, oh and taijutsu. Taijutsu... I was still, not very good at it. I can say that much. Not good at all.

But, anyway, it was a few days until the huge Graduation Test. I was confident, it was easy to make a few clones... But I just was worried I guess. But, we were doing sparring, chakra and weapons were allowed. And I had a certain opponent, Sasuke Uchiha.

The guy hated me, I was a little freaked out. But I was gonna let things happen. So I walked up and took off the weights and layed them down of the grassy ground away from me. I felt light as a feather, I gave him a kind smile. "You ready to lose, Idiot?" he said. I just gave him a smirk. Had been our first time sparring since a few years ago when I had gotten close to beating him... But still lost. Iruka-sensei looked at us two. "Begin!" he said. Immediatly I heard my friend Naruto, "KICK HIS ASS, AKI-KUN!"

He immediatly threw shuriken at me. I focused all of my chakra into my hands, almost slapping them, sending the shuriken right back at him. His eyes widened and he jumped out of the way. He raced towards me about to beat me down with taijutsu, knowing it was my weakness, and I pulled out my nunchaku. Blocking punches, hitting with dragon stick (the striking stick), I then focused my chakra in my feet, I kicked him back causing him to fly back.

"..." _Water Release: Violent Water Wave! _ I quickly did the hand signs, and water began to come out of my mouth like a water fall. As soon as the water hit Sasuke, he turned into a log. _Substitution Technique. Damn it... Water Release: Water Clone Technique!_ I did the seal of the Tiger. 6 Other me's appeared. We got in a circle, backs facing each other, we both scanned the area, looking for a sign of the Uchiha. Suddenly shuriken came flying at all of my clones, we all Reverse Weaponry Techniqued it right back at him.

He jumped down, using taijutsu easily beat one of my clones. We all began hitting him with out nunchakus, he was blocking them. Then one hit him. Suddenly he began to do handsigns. I jumped back. I began to do my own handsigns, I was about to try out a technique I saw in a book. I was never able to quite get it right, but sparring is when your supposed to try things out, right? "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" _Water Release: Gunshot._

A ball of fire shot out of his mouth towards me, I had a large and fast ball of water shooting out of my mouth right towards his fire ball. The two hit, making steam. That move used up almost all of my chakra, so I used what little I had left to use Ninja speed to move forward into the stream, I jumped out right towards Sasuke with my hand in a fist, and while he didn't expect it, I punched him, causing him to go flying into a tree.

"Aki Yuki wins!" Iruka-sensei said. The girls were all giggling, and Naruto was cheering. I gave a small smile, I knew I had gotten stronger, and I finally beat Sasuke. I was walking over to Naruto and I looked over to see Sasuke running towards me, and he tackled me. He got on top of me trying to punch my face while his other hand was on my, uh. Chest... He immediatly froze, his eyes got wide. Thankfully, Iruka-sensei went over and got him off of me. He was still frozen. I was too, cause my secret was gonna be out.

**I really needed more time for deciding the future, so I decided to do this, plus I got inspiration for this so I had to do this. Now Sasuke knows this certain secret. Dun, DUN, DUUUUUN!**

**Hey, wanna know where I got the idea for the Reverse Weaponry Technique from? Kuroko's Basketball. Its not exactly the same as what Kuroko does, but I still think its cool.**

**AND Anime Song of the Day is... Can Do from The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays, in short, Kuroko's Basketball. It's my alarm and if you know the translation, it is super inspirational! I really enjoy the song, and the show is also recommended. I wish my friends would give it a chance, but since its a sports anime, they can't get into it for some reason. Oh well, but the show is awesome if you ask me. I want to read the manga so bad, but small town, no money. Story of my life!**

**And Thanx for reading. If your down this far, Please Review! And give me your thoughts on this Fic, and how I can improve.**


	8. Chapter 8

Since it was the day before the Graduation Test, everyone seemed to be trying to prepare themselves. Except one student, Naruto. Iruka-sensei left the class for a few minutes leaving us to study, which a few of the kids weren't studying, others like me were studying. That's when Iruka-sensei came in with a tied up Naruto.

"I'm at the end of my rope, Naruto! You failed the Graduation Test last time, and the time before that. Tomorrow, you will have another chance and your messing up again!" Iruka-sensei was about to begin his lecture when Naruto childishly pouted and looked away. I face palmed, he was gonna make us all have to do some type of punishment., "Fine! Naruto, just because you missed it, everyone will have to review the trasformation jutsu!" he said. Every one groaned, but I didn't because it was another chance to practice.

"...Next Naruto Uzumaki!" Iruka-sensei said. I was standing right next to him with Shikamaru right beside me. Shikamaru was grumbling and I patted his shoulder with a small smile. Ino on the other side of him just noticed I was over here,

"Oooooh, Aki-kun! I think I'm gonna transform into you!" she said while hugging me. I gave her a smile too and patted her head. Her face got super red. I looked over at Hinata who was blushing while fittling her fingers while staring at Naruto. I was a little young to be thinking about love, but I really hoped Naruto and her got together. She's a sweet girl.

I looked over at Naruto who had transformed into a naked girl... I facepalmed again, the boy was very immature and perverted at times. Iruka-sensei nose bled and it was proven, he was a pervert too. Naruto and I were going to eat at Ichiraku's but he had to clean some prank he had done, so I was going to walk over to the Training Grounds where I would most likely see Gai-sensei training Lee, Tenten, and Neji. But I was stopped by none other than...

"AKI-KUN!" I saw Ino flying towards me, she almost tackled me, but I stood my ground as she threw her arms around me. "Hi, Aki-kun, do you think you'd wanna go on a date with me. It is our last day as students you know!" she said.

I sweatdropped, I don't really roll in that alley, so I tried to think of something. But then I heard, "NO! Aki-kun is mine, Ino Pig!" I saw Sakura storming towards us.

"No he's not. He likes me better. We've already been on our first date, and he has met my parents!" Ino said. _WHAT!? You dragged me to dinner with your dad! And that was not a date, it was kidnapping! _

"Well, he wrote to me saying he likes me! He did a few years ago. I know he loves me, and I know I love him!" I tried to avoid twitching, since that was not what that note said. But I used them arguing to sneak away quietly to the Training Ground. Yet I was stopped again.

It was Sasuke training. He saw me, and his eyes narrowed. My eyes narrowed too.

"What are you doing here?" he said rudely. I just ignored him and walked past him to get to the training ground I had to get to. He scoffed, and I just did my best to act like I didn't see him. Soon I was at the training grounds where I saw Lee and Gai-sensei sparring and Neji and Tenten watching. Neji was somewhat strange. He never had much to say to me, unlike Tenten. She always said she thought I was adorable. She was really nice and did her best to help me with my weapons. But she always ended up just throwing kunai and shuriken at me, and me sending them back to her.

"Hey, Aki-san!" she said with a smile. I waved at her and ran over. Neji just grunted at me and I gave him a small smile.

"Aren't you taking the Graduation Test tomarrow?" she asked, I nodded.

"Are you ready? Do you need me to train with you some today?" she asked. I shook my head. "You might as well give up. Its your fate to lose, since you are just a weak child." I gave him a glare. Considering, I am older than him, I'm just short. "Neji! Don't say that to him! He's older than us, and he will make a great Shinobi!" Tenten said. "AKI-KUN!" I looked up and saw Lee running up to me.

"Shall we spar? I have gotten stronger than yesterday! Maybe I will beat you! Let's fight!" Lee said. "No, no, no Lee. We need to train him in a few basic things so he will pass the Graduation Test tomorrow with flying colors!" Gai-sensei said. "Yosh!" Lee exclaimed.

We ended up going over Taijutsu stances with Lee and Gai-sensei, practicing Reverse Weaponry with Tenten, and meditating with Neji. At the end I ran around the village twice on my hands to get my upper body stronger. I wasn't alone, Gai-sensei and Lee joined me praising my Youth, and we all did it leaving a tired and sore me.

"The Final Exam," Iruka-sensei started out saying, "When your name is called, proceed to the Testing Room. The final rest will be on... The Clone Jutsu." I smiled, that was one of my best jutsus, but... I turned to my left and saw Naruto who had a defeated look of frustration on his face. They seemed to have been picking names randomly, because I was one of the first ones up. My knee's were shaking, and I was sweating. I was so nervous. I slowly walked up.

"Aki-kun," I heard Iruka-sensei say. I looked up at him with wide eyes, "There's no need to be nervous. You'll do fine, your really good at this Technique." he said. I gave him a small smile. _I can do this. I know I can. If I do this, I know Haku will be proud of me. Okay. Ram, Snake, Tiger! _ I heard four small poofs, I saw four other me's with a surprised look on their face. I gave a big grin.

"Well done, Aki-kun. Here's your forehead protector." Iruka-sensei said. He handed it to me with a smile, and I got a small nod from Mizuki-sensei. I came out smiling, Naruto was the last one up. "You go on ahead, I'll be out with my forehead protector in no time, believe it!" Naruto said. I gave him a smile and went outside where I immediatly got violently hugged.

"You did it! My student is now a Genin! The youth! I'm so proud!" Gai-sensei said. I felt another pair of arms around me, Lee was hugging me too with tears running down his face. "Lee, Sensei! Get off of him, he's turning blue!" Tenten exclaimed. They let go and I sucked in a large amount of air when I was hugged again by Tenten. "Good job, Aki-san!" she said and let go of me. "Let's go get some barbeque! To celebrate the newest Genin of The Hidden Leaf Village!" Gai-sensei said.

I shook my head, but I then saw Naruto walking past us with no forehead protector. I went to him. I gave him a very sad gaze. "I failed." he said softly. He sat down at the nearby swing set. I sat down next to him in the grass and sneezed. "You go on and celebrate with your friends. You deserve it." he said. I shook my head, "Just go Aki-kun. Please." he said. He must have wanted to be left alone, so I nodded and patted his shoulder. I walked off to Gai-sensei and everyone who literally dragged me to the Barbeque place.

As we were eating, Gai-sensei gave me a small gift. He gave me some dark grey gloves that had a very hard yet flexible steel plate in the palm and the fist. Perfect for reverse weaponry. I gave him a small bow, Lee some new weight bands that had more weight capacity, and Tenten gave me a small pin that had the Leaf Village symbol on it, that I happily put on my hat. I ate happily, but I still worried to death about Naruto. I gave a silent prayer to who ever is up there, that maybe, just maybe, he would get another chance to prove just how great he really was.

* * *

**That's all for now, and thank you for reading! Please Review and the Anime Song of the day is Crossing Field from Sword Art Online! It has okay animation but once it starts to rise up and get awesomer, it just makes it a personal favorite. I am also obsessed with fan dubs, and there was one by Lee and Lie that I saw on Youtube that I really like! Call me strange but I love it!**

**Next is Team Assignments! And I think I've decided what I'll be doing for Teams, and for another small gift for Aki-kun! Until next time, bye! And don't forget to give me a review! That motivates me!**


	9. Chapter 9

The things I was allowed to experience, the people I was able to call friends, teammates, mentors, coaches and opponents, the travel, all of it, are far more than anything I ever thought possible in my lifetime. ~Curt Schilling

* * *

When I walked in our Academy Classroom a few days later for Orientation, I didn't expect to see Naruto sitting there at a table with Sasuke. Okay, there was a seat inbetween them, but still! But I was pleased because it looked like he wasn't wearing goggles andhad a forehead protector wrapped around his head. I grinned as I quickly went down to greet him. He had his head down grinning to himself. I tapped his shoulder, he looked up and smiled. "I told you I'd get my forehead protector! Believe it!" he said with a big grin. I gave him a high five and sat down next to him. "Hey, Aki-kun, where's your forehead protector?" he asked. I pointed at my left thigh where I had it tied around my leg. "Oh..." Then he began to go on and on about how good he looked in his head band. Then I heard two female voices from the back of the room.

Ino and Sakura were argueing over who got to the room first. It was a real shame they became rivals, they were such good friends when they were younger. Naruto was blushing staring at Sakura. She suddenly started to stare over here. She gave a smile and ran over to our bench. "Hey Sakur-" "MOVE IT! Hey Aki-kun, Sasuke-kun! Do you mind if I sit next to you two?" she asked after she pushed Naruto out of his seat. I scooted down to give her room for her to sit down, and Naruto since there was plenty of room. Suddenly, I saw Naruto get up to glare close to Sasuke's face. I rolled my eyes. But then I saw someone about to bump Naruto. I quickly put my hand inbetween the two boys faces. Both lips were touching my hand. I sighed in relief. I looked at the two, one looking at me with thanks, the other just had one eyebrow up and a smirk on his face. Creepy Sasuke.

"As of today, you are all ninjas..." I was too busy to listen since I was dressing Naruto's wounds since he 'Attempted to Steal Sasuke's First Kiss.' I heard Sakura and Ino quietly arguing over who would be on Sasuke's team. I heard Naruto mumbling, "I hope I'm on a team with Sakura-chan and Aki-kun."

"Squad 7!"

I crossed my fingers hoping I would finally find out who would be on a team with me.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Aki Yuki."

Naruto and I both stood up and did a high five.

"And Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto and I both sat down, and Sakura was looking down in gloom. After Iruka-sensei got finished announcing squads, Naruto stood up. "Iruka-sensei, why does a great ninja like me, have to be in the same group with a slug like Sasuke!" Naruto said. I facepalmed. "Sasuke had one of the best scores out of all of the graduates. Naruto, you had the worst scores! We had to create a balenced group. So we had to put the best student with the worst student." Iruka-senesi said. I patted Naruto shoulder, and guided him down in his seat. "Just make sure you don't get in my way, loser." Sasuke said. He quickly stood back and tried to jump Sasuke. I held him back by his head, as Sakura yelled at him to sit down.

At lunch, Naruto and I sat at lunch together as usual. I had brought three bento to share with my team. But I didn't see Sasuke anywhere, and I didn't want to look for him. So I ended up giving two of them to Naruto since I knew he would easily be able to eat all of them. We soon parted because I had to go shopping for some kunai. I went to the weapons shop and saw Naruto waiting on me. He had a piece of paper and pen with him. I guess he wanted me to tell him something.

"Aki." he said. "Hm?" I said with curious eyes, walking over to him. "Sasuke... What do you think of him?" he asked. I gave him a strange look, since it was a weird question for him to ask me. I grabbed the paper and pen.

**I don't know... I think he hates me since he always glares at me. But, maybe one day we can be friends, since we all are on a team. I really hope you two get along, since it wouldn't be fun to be stuck with you two argueing on missions and stuff.**

He read it, "Hn." I thought he was starting sound like Sasuke. He walked away calmly, which was really weird. Cause Naruto Uzumaki is never calm. I just shrugged, and went on to the classroom and began writing possible answer cards for possible conversations. All consisting of Yes, No, Above you, behind you, below you, and so on and so forth. I soon heard Naruto running past talking about a bathroom. _Seems you have gone back to normal, Naruto. Let's just hope for the best when we meet our Sensei._


	10. Chapter 10

One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork. ~Edward Abbey

* * *

"He's late!" Naruto exclaimed as him, Sasuke, and I were all sitting in the classroom. He was peeking through the door as Sasuke and I sat down at different desks."God! Why is our teacher the only one that's late? I'm ready to roll, believe it!" said. I had to admit it, I was getting impatient to when I saw Naruto was putting an eraser in the door, to where it would fall on our sensei when he entered. I facepalmed, the boy and his pranks..."Hn. Our teachers a Jonin, you think he'd fall for that?" Sasuke said. He looked at me, I guess expecting me to back him up. I just shrugged, you never know... Suddenly a hand came out of no where opening the door. And I saw a masked ninja walk in. The eraser hit his head, and hit the floor. Then everything was silent until... "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I got him! He totally fell for it! HAHAHAHAHA" Naruto was laughing pointing at the poor guy. But, then I recognized him from the Bingo book. The spiked hair, the mask, the forehead protector over one eye. It was Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan! He was a legend! And just happened to be the 'Eternal Rival' of a certain Taijutsu master...As I was busy admiring all of his awesome feats I read about, he picked up the eraser. "Hm... How can I put this? My first impression of you is..."

"Your a bunch of idiots." he said simply causing a cloud of gloom above all three of us.

"Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves... One at a time..." Kakashi-senesi said. "What?! Introduce ourselves? What are we supposed to say?" Naruto said. "Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future, hobbies, things like that." As he was talking I was quickly writing down my hobbies and everything. "Why don't you tell us about you first? So we know what to say." Naruto said. "I'm Kakashi Hatake, things I like and things I hate, I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future, haven't really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies." He said. "Hey! All we learned is your name!" Naruto exclaimed. "Hm. Okay, your turn. You on the right, you first." Kakashi-sensei said referring to Naruto. "Believe it! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I like instant ramen in a cup and my best friend Aki-kun! But I hate the 3 minute wait after you pour the ramen in the ramen cup. My hobbies is to eat different kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is... To be the greatest Hokage. Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me, and start treating me like I'm somebody important!" he said. I really thought he could do, because he wasn't ever gonna give up on that dream.

"Alright, next!" Sasuke was next.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate alot of things. And I don't really like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan. And destroy a certain someone." he said darkly. I did my best to keep a smile on my face, but couldn't as I scooted away from the boy. "Okay, last one. The boy with the hat." he said

I gave him a small smile, and he gave me an awkward stare. I got up and handed him a note. "I guess you don't speak, correct?" Kakashi-sensei said. I sat back down and nodded. "Yeah, I've been friends with him for years and I still haven't heard him speak." Naruto said. "Okay, here's what he said,

**Hi my name is Aki Yuki, nice to meet you! I like my friends, dango, animals, and rice balls! I don't like mean people, people that judge others for no reason, and being woken up for no good reason. My dream is to become a legendary Shinobi and help Naruto reach his dream!**"

He looked up at me. Then folded the paper and put it in his pocket. "Good, everyone's unique and you have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomarrow." Kakashi-sensei said. "Oh, what kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked. "It's a task the 4 of us can complete together." "Come on, details!" Naruto exclaimed. "... A survival exercise." "Huh? Survival exercise?!" Naruto exclaimed. "Oh, don't worry. This won't be like your previous training." Kakashi-sensei said seeming to be reading my mind. "Then what kind of training is it?" Naruto asked. Kakashi-sensei began to do an evil chuckle. "Well, if I tell you what kind of training it is, our not going to like it." he said, while still chuckling. "Huh?" Naruto said. Suddenly, Kakashi-sensei got close to us, "Of the 27 graduates that came here, only 9 will actually be accepted as Genin. The other 18 will be weeded out and sent back to the Academy. In other words, this is a make it or break it, pass or fail test. And the chance you will fail is at least 66%." Naruto had his mouth open in suprise, Sasuke was glaring at Kakashi-sensei, and me, I was smiling. I was really freaked out, but I wasn't about to show it.

"That's crazy! We worked hard to get here, believe it, what was that Graduation Test for anyway!?" Naruto said. "That was just to select candidates that might become Genin. Or not." Kakashi-sensei said, causing Naruto to freak out. "That is just how it is. I decide if you pass or fail. Meet at our designated training spot tomarrow at 5 a.m. and bring your ninja gear." I looked over at Naruto, and patted his shoulder. "How can you smile like that? Are you not nervous?" he said. I shrugged. "Oh, and tomarrow, you might want to skip breakfast, unless you want to throw up." And he dismissed us. Naruto went off to eat ramen, Sasuke went off to do who know's what. I ran off to find Gai-sensei.

I gave him a note telling him all that happened. "What!? My eternal rival is your Sensei!? We must train! To prove to him that I am the better Sensei! Yes! Let's go, Aki, Lee! Let's run around the Village only being fueled by our Youth!" "Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed. "Wait! Wasn't there something you had to tell Aki-san?" Tenten said while sparring with Neji. "Oh,yes there was! Aki, our running will have to wait, the Hokage wanted me to tell you to come see him right away!" Gai-sensei said. I nodded and ran towards the Hokage's Tower.

I walked over to the door leading to his office and saw the Shinobi guards that gave me a stern look. I gave them a smile, "Hi, Aki-san." One of them said. I went in his office and his desk was piled high with paperwork. "Hi there, Aki-kun." I waved at him. "Hikari-chan..." he said. My eyes looked down as he mentioned her name. "She was a very close friend of mine. Actually, I had a liking towards her for the longest time. When she got older, she left the village to go live in a small village with a friend of hers. She begged me to allow her to go, since I was Kage, it was my job to decide if she could leave or not. She gave me her Summoning Scroll and told me that one day a friend or descendent of her's would come to the Village. She Told me to give it to who ever it is that will proceed her. Now that you are a Genin, I think it is time you take this. Have your Sensei help you with the contract." he said. I was shocked, I had no idea that Hikari, left something behind. Something, I think, was meant for me. Somehow she knew I would come. I smiled as I took the scroll from him. I gave him a bow, "Good luck on your test tomarrow, Aki. I wish you the best!" he exclaimed.

As I left I was happy. I felt like I suddenly had a small bit of Hikari with me. "HEY! YOU!" I heard a voice say from behind me. I saw a light grey bunny rabbit hopping towards me. "Hey, your the one with Summoning Scroll, right?" it said. My eyes widened, I took out the scroll, "Yeah, that one! So your a potential summoner! That's cool. I'm Ryota, the next Rabbit Boss! You can call me Ryota Boss God-sama, Rabbit God-sama, or Ryota-sama. And in NO WAY will you call me Bun-Bun-chan, Usa-chan, Cutie-chan, or ANYTHING with a chan, GOT IT!?" he said. I nodded, still weirded out about the fact that I might be summoning rabbits, and there's a small one talking to me. "Now, get to the nearest Commoner's Supermarket and get carrots, newspaper, and all the food pills you can carry! Get to it woman!" I thought I was going crazy, a weird rabbit was talking to me. And forcing me to buy stuff, but who was I to refuse a cute little "YOU BETTER NOT ME THINKING I'M CUTE, WOMAN!"


	11. Chapter 11

I trudged to the Training Grounds, at around 7:00 a.m. Sasuke and Naruto were glaring at me as I ate a nice early morning dango. I had a grumbling little Ryota on my shoulder. "Son of a birds of prey, I am tired!" he said. I pattd his head, "Hey watch the ears, woman. The lush softness of these ears don't come easy. Last thing I need is some human oils all over my ears!" He exclaimed. I gave a small chuckle. "Aki-kun! Why the hell are you so late!?" Naruto exclaimed. I shrugged. "Cause, Commoner of here wanted some dango, and I wanted a carrot! You got a problem with that, Blondie!?" Ryota exclaimed. The two boy's eyes found the source of the voice on my shoulder. "Hey, Sasuke. Am I the only one hearing a little talking bunny?" Naruto asked. Sasuke just grunted. "HEY WATCH IT, I'M THE NEXT RABBIT BOSS, RYOTA! SO SHOW SOME RESPECT COMMONER!" he yelled. "Well to me, you look like a harmless cute little bunny rabbit." he said. Ryota jumped off my shoulder and I instantly held the bunny back. "LET ME AT HIM! GIVE ME A FOOD PILL AND LET ME KILL HIM!" Suprisingly, the rabbit was really strong and almost got out of my hold.

A few hours later, everything calmed down. Ryota was sleeping, Naruto was holding his stomach, I was sitting down, and Sasuke was standing emotionless. "Aki-kuun! Why were you eating on the way here?" Naruto asked. I just shrugged.

An hour later, Kakashi-sensei finally showed up. "Hey! Your late!" Naruto exclaimed as he told us good morning. "Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way." he said with an eye-smile. I looked over at Naruto who was just growling at the grey haired man. "Well, lets get started." he said.

He took out an alarm and put it on a wood stump. "This alarm is set for noon," he took out some bells, "Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it." he said. "If you can't get them by lunch, you won't have lunch and you'll be tied to those posts over there." he said resulting in a small sound of protest coming from Naruto. I patted his shoulder. "Oh yeah... We gonna kick some butt ! " Ryota said. He had fire coming out of his eyes and he looked ready. I wasn't even listening, I saw Naruto and Sasuke looking sad and hungry. Well... I was just glad that I ate dango. "Hey, wait a minute! There's two bells, and there's three of us! Whats with that?!" Naruto asked. "Oh, so for sure one of you would be tied to a post, and disqualified for failing to complete the misssion. That person goes back to the Adacemy." Kakashi-sensei said. I gasped, _Oh gosh, if I fail, Gai-senei is gonna kill me for real this time! No way, I'm for sure gonna get one of those bells! _ I thought to myself. "Psssst. Hey, Commoner... Why don't I run to the store and grab a bell. You'd have a bell, technically." Ryota whispered to me. I shook my head, my ninja career was on the line. I wasn't about to risk anything. "... You can use any weapons including shuriken, if your not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells." Kakashi-sensei said. I was totally not listening to most of what he said. I looked at Ryota, "Take the bells from him you pass and eat. Don't you fail and go to Academy. Capeesh, Commoner?" he said. I nodded at him.

"Ha! Sensei, you might not one to say that since you couldn't even dodge an eraser!" Naruto said confidently. "Class clowns are usually the weakest links. You can safely ignore them, those with the lowest scores, losers. When I say start, you may begin." Naruto began to look angry. He quickly took out his kunai and charged at Kakashi-sensei. "What. An. Idiot." Ryota said from on my shoulder. Suddenly, Kakashi-sensei had Naruto's kunai up to the blond's own neck "Don't be in such a hurry. I didn't say start yet." Naruto was struggling trying to get out of his grip. I had my hand on my nunchaku as got in a more defensive stance. "But you did come at me with the intent to kill, so how can I say this? I'm starting to like you guys." I gave a small smirk, cause I was ready for whatever would come at me, except for taijutsu. Anything but Taijutsu...

"And... Start!"

I jumped back into a nearby tree with Ryota on my shoulder. "Okay, Commoner, how about we take charge and just go all out with pure badassery! Just give me a food pill and you'll see my true power." he said. I gave him a look and handed him a carrot. "Okay, I guess that's a no, for now... " Ryota said with a small pout.

Then I saw a big spot of orange out right in front of Kakashi-senesi. "Oh its the Blondie. Well, he'll get whats comin to him since he did disrespect the Great Rabbit God-sama, Ryota!" he said. I sighed, "Oh no, Commoner, your not about to-" I cut him off, running to Naruto's side. "Hey, Aki-kun! What are you doing here?" he asked. "Commoner came to help your sorry ass!" Ryota said. "HEY SHUT IT BUNNY RABBIT!" "YOU SHUT IT, ORANGE BLOND NINCOMPOOP!" I sighed. "You know, you two are a little, weird." Kakashi-sensei said. "HEY YOU FORGOT ME, SCARECROW!" Ryota said rudely. "Well you know what, the only thing that's weird here is your haircut!" Naruto exclaimed as he charged for him. Really, I just let him learn his lesson about charging a powerful enemy head on. I was taking off my weights feeling lighter than air. Suddenly, Naruto stopped. I rushed to his side I looked over at Ryota and he some how read my mind. "Hey, Blondie, Commoner wants you to follow her into the woods. I got this covered." he said. "What?!" Naruto said. I nodded as I put Ryota on the ground with a food pill. Naruto nodded as we ran, and me, I just hoped Ryota's 'badassery' was real.

"Time to learn, Scarecrow! I AM THE GREAT RABBIT GOD RYOTA! I AM AWESOME, LET'S FIGHT!" Ryota yelled confidently. "A bunny?" Kakashi-sensei said. "OH YOU MAY THINK I'M JUST A BUNNY! JUST A CUTE LITTLE BUNNY! BUT WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW IS THAT, WITH THIS BUNNY THERES A FULL FLEDGED SHIT STORM AND IT'S COMING YOUR WAY!" he yelled munching on the Food Pill. Suddenly I heard a small poof, Ryota was 5 times bigger. "HAHAHA! WHO'S LITTLE NOW!? LET'S GO, WATER RELEASE: GUNSHOT, YA JERK!" he yelled, a large water ball came flying at Kakashi-sensei, he jumped out of the way easily and he appeared on Ryota's head. He quickly tied up Ryota's ears in a knot and jumped down. "No! My ears, my sweet ears!" he said with tears running down his face. He poofed down into a little rabbit. I looked at Naruto and he looked at me. We had the mutual agreement, we were gonna team up and kick this guy's ass. I ran out with a water clone.

I ran at him trying to hit his pressure points but he never left an opening. Naruto suddenly came out attacking too. Suddenly, I saw an opening right at the bells, I reached for them, but then I was kicked back. I felt slightly dizzy. I couldn't see quite clearly, I thought he got my head really good. I could see Naruto and him fighting, and I heard yelling. That's when I saw Naruto go flying into the water. I could see a bit more clearly when some shuriken came flying out of the water at Kakashi-senesi. _Those throws, too slow, too weak. He'll easily catch them._ Though I was dizzy, I sprinted to where I calculated the weapons would be in the next few seconds. I used my fist and hit the shuriken at least tripling their speed. Reverse weaponry, my personal specialty. He dodged the shuriken by stepping to the left slightly. Naruto came out of the water panting. I quickly ran over to him. "Aki, go hide in the forest please!" Naruto said with a forced smile. I gave him a worried look and jumped into the forest to quietly wait for an opening. I watched as Naruto fell for an obvious trap, and I also saw what I thought was Kakashi-sensei's death.

* * *

**Sorry had to end the chapter here. This took me forever to write cause this specific part of the series is hard for me to write For some reason. So this part maybe more poorly written or boring. Really the only part that was easy for me to write was any thing Ryota said. And Ryota is based on 2 certain characters in a popular anime, I won't tell who but if you can guess, you win a... Um... Virtual Ryota Plushie! And cake!**

**And fun story, I had an all-nighter last night. Just because I was curious to see what the animation for Princess Jellyfish looked like. I didn't expect to get a happiness from watching it that I call the Fruits Basket Feeling, that made it so enjoyable! I spent all night watching the 11 episode series and I seriously love it! It was weird at first, but it was so cute, y'know!? So...**

**Anime song of the day is Koko Dake no Hanashi! Weird but cute opening that included a referance to a certain fandom everyone knows about, a classic Disney movie, and one of the awesomest British people ever! (Next to Britain himself HETALIA REFERANCE) The ending is also adorable, so another anime recommendation. I watched it dubbed, so does anyone know if its worth to rewatch it subbed? **


	12. Chapter 12

A single leaf working alone provides no shade. ~Chuck Page

* * *

Suddenly, Kakashi-sensei poofed into a log. He used the Substitution Jutsu. Sasuke just revealed his location, very smart I may say so myself. I felt a breeze go past me, he must have been running for the hills. I saw poor Naruto still tied up, upside down on the tree. I looked for Kakashi-sensei since I couldn't afford to let down my guard for a second. I jumped down, "Aki-kun! Help me down, help me down! I need to get a bell!" he exclaimed.

I gave a quiet sigh as I facepalmed. I jumped onto the rope and cut him down, he fell on his head, and I didn't feel all that bad. "Thanks Aki-kun! I gotta go now, I'll try to get a bell for the both of us!" he said as he ran off. Suddenly I looked on my shoulder since I didn't hear a sarcastic remark. Ryota wasn't on my shoulder!

I looked around the training grounds and saw he was no where around me. I began to search the Forest when suddenly I had this odd feeling. I looked around and saw Sasuke limping towards me, he had kunai and shuriken through him. I gasped as I ran over to him, "Aki-kun. Help... *cough* me..."

Suddenly I stepped back from him. Because he never used an honorific with any names. So I thought, he was either not actually Sasuke, or I was in a Genjutsu. But the thing was, I wasn't all that good at getting out of Genjutsu. "Kai!" I said trying to get out of it. "Aki-kun,, please help me." he said. _Gosh, I need to get out of this Genjutsu and get a bell and quick! _I thought to myself.

I sat down and tried to concentrate in the form of meditating. "KAI!" I yelled letting a surge of chakra come out of my body. I found myself on the ground and I had no idea what time it was. I ran to where the alarm was supposed to be and hid up in the leaves. I saw Sasuke who's head was in the ground, and Naruto and Ryota was no where to be found.

I jumped down and began to dig out a glaring Uchiha. We were both silent, suddenly, the alarm rang and I trudged to the 3 posts ready to be failed and sent back to the Academy. I saw Naruto tied up on the post struggling to get untied. "Well... You three don't have to worry about going back to the Academy..." Kakashi said.

Naruto gave a big grin. Sasuke gave a smirk, and me I gave a sigh of relief I thought maybe we all did enough. "You three are being dropped from the program, permanently-" "HOLD IT! HOLD IT! YA JERK!" I heard a yell. I looked and saw none other than Ryota hopping towards us. He had two bells in his mouth. Kakashi-sensei's eyes widened as he felt his hip seeing the bells not being there. "What?" he said. Ryota jumped on my shoulder and dropped the bells in my hand.

"You really thought I, GREAT RABBIT GOD-SAMA, would lose that easily?! HA! There's one thing I have to say, THE SKY IS BLUE YA SCARECROW BASTARD!" he yelled with his paw up in confidence. Kakashi-sensei seemed to be hiding his surprise quite well, considering he was wearing a mask... "Hm. Okay, Aki-san, who will you give the other bell to?" he asked.

I looked up at the two boys. One was looking at me with pleading eyes, the other was giving me a curious look. I looked down at the two bells. I really wanted to be ninja and make my brother proud. We all had our goals that were important to us. I gave a small smile, giving one of the bells to Ryota to hold, I put my finger in the remaining bell and broke it perfectly in half. I gave each half to both of them. They both looked at me with surprise when I put each half in their hands. I looked at Kakashi-sensei who had wide eyes, but they instantly went back to normal. "Hm. Well, I suppose you all can pass if..."

"Oh come on, Kakashi-sensei! You said if we all get a bell, we pass!" Naruto exclaimed. "The Orange Nincompoop is right! I wanna get home and eat, ya jerk!" Ryota exclaimed. "Well, its a simple question and a confident ninja as yourself should have no problem answering it." Kakashi-sensei with an eye smile.

"I'm the next Hokage, I can answer it, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke scoffed, "Loser, you might as well not answer, you'll get us sent back to the Academy." Sasuke said. "Shut up, bastard!" Naruto yelled. I sighed and looked at Ryota for some help. He looked at me and nodded, "YOU TWO IDIOTS THE HELL UP! I'M HUNGRY, AND I WANNA GO HOME!" suddenly a dark aura surrounded him.

"And the longer you two argue, the longer I'm here. The longer I'm hungry I begin to eat whatever I see. So I will eat a food pill and you will all be neutered. So be quiet and hurry and let Scarecrow Jerk ask the question!" Ryota said. We all looked at Kakashi-sensei.

"What was the meaning of this test, you each have one guess." Kakashi-sensei said. He looked at Naruto who had a face that made it obvious that he had no idea what it was.

"

Um, to get the bells?" he said uncertainly. Kakashi-sensei sighed, "No Naruto, you need to be able to look underneath the underneath... Next, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi-sensei then at the rest of us. "To show our power in an actual battle." he said confidently. "That was wrong too, Sasuke. Last, the mute." I looked at Sasuke, looked at Naruto, and looked at Kakashi. I took out the notepad and pen and wrote what I thought.

**Is it teamwork?**

I held up the paper and gave a hopeful smile. "Yes it is! Because you need teamwork to be a successful team. And you can never abandon a teamwork no matter what. Because those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." he said. Those words were true genius, they're the truth though they go against the "way Shinobi should behave" but, I for one would happily live by them.

"Well, Scarecrow, your not half bad..." Ryota said nodding approvingly. I saw Naruto looking at him with admiration in his eyes. I really began to respect Kakashi-sensei more and more.

* * *

**FINALLY FINISHED THE BELL TEST! OMG, it was so hard to write this, while trying to make it different from other fanfictions. Did I manage to get it different, because I had no idea what to do, cause I wanted it to go somewhat canon. Plus, I had to find some way to put the amazing "Scum" quote, but not make it exactly like the original Naruto series. *sigh* **

**And I'm thinking about possibly starting another Fic once I get farther into this story, maybe half way through the Naruto series or maybe once I'm planning Shippuden, if I get that far. Or I could start on it now, but that would give less time to update. Oh IDK...**

**But anyway, Anime Song of the Day is... Shishou from Ouran High School Host Club. Its the cute catchy ending and I love it! For some reason, I love hearing voice actors singing in character like when I hear an Italy song on Hetalia, or the opening and ending of Fruits Basket. Yeah... I love that! Anyway, I'll try to update tomarrow. **

**Final question...**

**Should Haku live through the Wave Arc? **

**I would like him to live but, just tell your thoughts in the reviews! Thank you!**


	13. Chapter 13

"Sasuke, Point B"

"Ryota God-sama and Commoner, Point C, jerks!"

...

...

"Naruto, at Point A, believe it!"

"Your slow, Naruto..." Kakashi said, "Yeah ya, orange nicompoop!" Ryota exclaimed into the microphone.

"Shut up, damn rabbit!"

"Say that to my face, nicompoop!"

"Losers..." Sasuke said sighing.

I sighed along with him. "Squad 7, the target has moved! Follow it!" Kakashi-sensei exclaimed. We jumped down and hid behind different trees. "It's over there..." Naruto whispered. "Way to state the obvious, nincompoop..." Ryota whispered back to him. We all moved again behind different trees trying to follow the cat we were chasing. Yeah, cat...

CAT! I love animals, but this one was a very quick and smart one. It was probably used to run away from Genin. Yeah, as Genin we got all the lower level jobs with less pay and it gave us more experience. I didn't like it but every ninja was a Genin at some time. Even Kakashi-sensei, even the Legendary Sannin! So, I thought of it as my first step to becoming a legend. But, still that cat... As you can see, I was not amused at all by it. So I wasn't feeling too sorry for that cat as it was being squeezed to death by the Fire Daimyo's wife. Since it did try to eat Ryota, and he made me shampoo his fur with his baby smelling shampoo, put cocoa butter on his fur, and brush his ears exactly 257 times later that day.

But I'm not here to talk about Ryota and his crazy cleaning habits.

As the woman squeezed the cat, The Hokage began to read out next mission. "For Squad 7's next mission, we have several options. We have babysitting the chief counseler's three year old, helping his wife to do the shopping, digging up potatoes," The Hokage was suddenly interuppted by a boy in an orange jumpsuit.

"No, no, NO! I wanna go on a real mission! Something challenging and exciting! Not this little kid stuff!" Naruto exclaimed with his hand's making an 'X'. Though I some what agreed with him, I didn't want something too dangerous, because I didn't want to die before becoming a legend!

"How dare you! Your just a brand new Genin with no experience! Like everyone else you start with simple missions to develop your skills and prove yourself!" Iruka-senesi yelled at Naruto."Are you kidding me?! Babysitting is not a mission! It's just a stupid-" Naruto was interrupted by Kakashi-sensei hitting him on the back of the head causing him to fall over. I face palmed, which I tended to do alot with him and Sasuke around.

"Will you put a lid on it? " Kakashi-sensei said. "Naruto," the Hokage began, "It seems you do not understand the tasks you have been given." Naruto stopped whining to me about his head and looked over at the Hokage. As he began talking, Naruto started talking to Sasuke and I about ramen. "Well, I had this tankatsu ramen yesterday, and I'm thinking miso ramen today."

"Well, I think I'll be eating some vegetable ramen with extra carrots, ya jerk. It's the best!" I held up a sign.

**Beef Ramen and rice balls!**

"Silence!" Hokage said with an annoyed look on his face. I gave Ryota a look telling him he better keep his mouth shut, cause one does not want to anger the Hokage. Kakashi-senseie quickly apoligized to him. "You always lecture me like your my grandfather or something! I'm not the little brat that used to pull all those pranks all the time! I'm a ninja now, and I wanna ninja mission!" I would have thought he was being mature, despite him kind of having a smaller version of a tantrum, but he did turn away pouting. I gave a small chuckle, yet I kind of hoped for a mission of merit. But, I still suck with weapons and taijutsu, I could easily get my butt kicked by many other of the graduates.

I heard an evil chuckle come from the Hokage. I knew one other thing about the Hokage. When you hear an evil chuckle coming from him, expect hell in the future. "Naruto wants us to know that he's not a brat. He's a former brat, and he wants a mission. So be it." That's when I heard us all suck in air, with the exception of Kakashi-sensei (The Master of the Poker Face). "So I'm going to give you a C-Ranked mission. You'll be bodyguards on a journey." The Hokage said. I had the feeling that the person we would be guarding wouldn't be very nice to us. "Send in our visitor!" The Hokage called. We all looked at the door behind us.

An old drunkard opened the door, and the first thing he said was... "What? It's a bunch of snot nosed kids?"

* * *

**Sorry I have to end here. I know this is annoying, but its the school week and its tough to update alot, or anything really long. Plus, freshman year and everything... But hey, I'll make it up over the weekend, if my aunt has wifi because thats who I have to stay with for the weekend. So, I'll do my best to make it up to you, believe it! **

**And small question, Don't you think Killer B and Ryota would make great friends?! Just imagine...**

**ANYWAY, Anime Song of the Day is Snow Fairy from Fairy Tail! It's one of my favorite shounens, next to Naruto and Soul Eater! Snow Fairy is the first opening and that opening is what made me fall in love with the show! Plus, I'm so excited about the continuation in April! So EXCITED! **


	14. Chapter 14

Walking with everyone at this slow speed was, not to copy Shikamaru, but troublesome. Naruto and Tazuna were bickering, Ryota was saying small sarcastic remarks in my ear, Sasuke was muttering 'loser' and idiot under his breath, and Kakashi was busy holding Naruto back. But I was focusing on the feeling of feeling watched.

I looked up at Ryota, though he did act like his normal self, I could see he was watching for danger too. It just seemed like Naruto wasn't all that much on his guard. But I thought I was being too paranoid since it was nothing but a C-Rank, yet once again my paranoia meter was going off the charts. I was looking back and forth, above, below. "Calm down, Aki-kun. It's just a C-Rank, if anything, we'll meet a couple of bandits." Kakashi-sensei said with an eye smile. I gave him an embarrased smile, yet, I felt like something was wrong.

We just went over a bridge with a small river running under it. I stopped and noticed that little Ryota was asleep on my shoulder. I smiled, despite being nervous, I put him in his little bed that I made for him inside my backpack. I looked down at the water that just made the prettiest most peaceful sounds. I then saw up ahead, a puddle on the ground a little bit farther up the road. I glared at it, because it hadn't rained in weeks. Though it was a very interesting technique. I ran up to Kakashi-sensei and pulled on his sleeve. He looked at me and pointed to the puddle. "It's fine, nothing to worry about." he whispered. I nodded and went next to Tazuna since the mission was to protect him.

Suddenly I hear

d someone behind us. They threw chains that wrapped around Kakashi-sensei. I stood my ground infront of Tazuna at the water users. Suddenly, Kakashi-sensei was in a million pieces. My eyes got wide with fear, my knee's threatened to tremble, and tears wanted to run down my face, but I wouldn't let them. Because a Shinobi is not supposed to show emotion.

Suddenly, I saw the two shinobi behind Naruto. I quickly threw up my kunai, and as they fell I used the reverse weaponry technique to throw the kunai at them, at an alarming rate. It got one of the men through the leg, the other skillfully dodged it, jumping backwards a bit. Making his chain get off his target, but Sasuke was in the air, and he through his shuriken at the chain, making it stick in the tree. He kicked the two men in their faces making them fly backwards. But one was going for Naruto, and the other was going for me and Tazuna. I quickly prepared myself.

_Certain-kill Ice Spears!_ I thought letting my chakra burst out, going right past the Uchiha who got in front of me. It pierced the man who was coming towards us, and as he flew back, Kakashi-sensei easily caught him.

I gave a big grin, since it felt like Kakashi-sensei came back from the dead. We looked back where Kakashi-sensei had 'died' and saw wood.

"Naruto, I'm sorry I didn't help you right away. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that." Kakashi-sensei said. I walked over to Naruto and took his bloody hand. I began to wrap it up with bandages, though it looked like it was already healing.

"Good job, Sasuke. And you too Aki." Kakashi-sensei said to us. I got up once I was done wrapping Naruto's wound and smiled.

"Hey! What's with all this noise about?! Seriously, can a bunny not get some good rest every once and a while!?" said a grumpy Ryota while he poked his head out from the backpack. He saw Kakashi-sensei with the two dead guys.

"Ah, did I miss all the action!? Damn it, I could have shown my superior bad assery!" he exclaimed. I started to ignore his rant when I began to pay attention to the interaction between Sasuke and Naruto.

"Hey, your not hurt are ya? Scaredy cat." Sasuke said tauntingly. I could see Naruto getting angry, then he yelled, "Sasuke!" But Kakashi-sensei quickly quieted him. "Stand still, these ninja have poison in their claws. We need to take it out of you quickly." Kakashi-sensei explained that it was in his blood, but then said Tazuna's name in a slightly angry manner.

"We need to talk.

* * *

"These two are Chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their specialty is relentless attack. They keep fighting no matter what the sacrifce." The remaining one alive spoke up. "How did you know about the ambush?" he asked. "My student here, noticed the puddle first. It hadn't rained in weeks." Kakashi-sensei said. "Then why did you leave the Genin to do the fighting?" Tazuna asked.

"I could have taken them out at any moment, but I wanted to see who they were targeting. I wanted see if they were after us, or if they were after you. When you put in your request, you asked for standard protection, from robbers and highway men. You didn't say you had ninja looking for you. If we knew this, this mission would be a B-Rank mission or higher. Our task was to simply get you to your destination. And protect you while you finished building your bridge. If we knew we'd be fielding attacks from enemy ninja, we would have staffed differently and charged for a B-Rank mission. Apparently, you have your reasons. But lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission." Kakashi-sensei said.

Really, I didn't know what to think. This mission, I knew it would be harder than the D-Ranks, but with it being the work of a B-Rank, I didn't. We were just Genin, fresh out of the Academy. Naruto was poisoned, and I was scared. I was scared to death of the two Chunin. And I had killed someone, I was beyond afraid.

"Oh, quit your shaking, Commoner. You've got the great Rabbit God-sama, Ryota here. And your strong, so we should continue." Ryota said into my ear. I gave a small smile and nodded. I didn't know if anyone heard the small exchange Ryota and I were having. But, it helped get some confidence. I looked up at Kakashi-sensei, but he was staring at Naruto. Naruto had just stabbed his hand with a kunai.

"Why am I so different!? Why am I always, ugh! I worked so hard to get here! Pushing myself til it hurt! Training alone for hours, anything to get stronger, to reach my dream! I will never back down again, and let someone else rescue me. I will never run away, and I will not lose to Sasuke. Upon this wound I make this pledge! Believe it! Bridge Builder, I'll complete this missionand protect you with this kunai knife! A real ninja never gives up, and neither will I. Don't you guys worry about me, I'll be fine! Now let's go!" Naruto exclaimed.

My eyes were wide once again, they were wide with admiration. His pledge, his speech, it was amazing. It made feel like, we could do anything.

"Uh, Naruto. That

was really cool how you took the poison out and all, but if you lose anymore blood, your going to die." Kakashi-sensei said simply. I gasped running over to the freaking out orange boy. As I was wrapping his wound, Kakashi-sensei came up from behind us, "Good idea to stop the bleeding now, seriously." he said.

"No! I CAN'T DIE, NOT THIS YOUNG! AKI! AKI! HEEEELP!"

"..."

"Stop your freaking out, ya emo orange nicompoop!"

I gasped when he finally stood still and let me look at his wound. As I began to wrap it, I noticed that it was already healing. I gave him a smile, and I wrapped the bandage around his hand, nice and tight. I looked up at Kakahi-sensei and he had a serious look on his face. "Uh, Aki... Why does Kakashi-sensei have such a serious look on his face? Its creeping me out! Am I alright!?" Naruto exclaimed.

I quickly nodded, but Ryota was still mumbling about him being an emo, and Naruto creeping him out. I honestly thought Ryota was secretly worried about him. Maybe...

"IF EVER DO THAT AGAIN, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS TO WHERE YOU'LL NEVER BE EMO AGAIN, YA EMO ORANGE NICOMPOOP!"

"WELL I DID MORE THAN YOU DID YA USELESS BUNNY!

Or, heh heh, maybe not...

* * *

**I have a good excuse for not updating yesterday! I went and got myself addicted to this Korean Drama, Playful Kiss. It is so cute! So about 6 hours straight of watching that show, got me raging, got me laughing, and fan girling over someone who is not an anime character!**

**And okay, I so feel like I'm neglecting Sasuke, but I'm baseing this off the anime, and he doesn't have that many lines in the first few episodes. But, next chapter there will be more Sasuke, more Ryota, more Aki, and a certain ninja who just happens to have a certain girl's twin brother as his tool. Ooo... Next chapter will be fun!**

**Anime song of the day... Genesis of Aquarion by Akino. From the anime, Genis of Aquarion. Pretty song, with some english, I approve! Haven't seen the anime, is it worth it to watch it? **

**So, yeah, please review, and you follow and favorite if you can! Thank you for reading, later ya awesome otaku's!**


	15. Chapter 15

Cherish your human connections - your relationships with friends and family.- Barbara Bush

* * *

I'll happily admit, I was scared to death. We were up against Zabuza Momoichi, who was S-Class Rogue ninja. That meant, easily could kill us. But, Naruto had a plan. Part way into the fight, Kakashi-sensei got caught in Water Prison. ButI was too afraid to do anything. Every instinct in my body told me to run. Run away fast as I could. And, I was also scared because, my chakra was acting weird. It was like, it was straying towards the trees behind us. I kept looking back, and I could halfway feel someone watching us. But, I was just so scared. I stood my ground infront of Tazuna, silent, and still fearful.

When Naruto said he had a plan, I was all ears. And he told me my part of the plan. He told me that I should take Tazuna back to his house since we were near there anyway. Sadly, I really wanted that. I didn't want to be anywhere near this missing nin. Even with Kakashi-sensei there. I nodded and I sat Ryota on the ground and gave him a food pill. He grew, "HELL YEAH! LET'S KICK ASS ORANGEY AND BIRDY!" he said with a yell. I ran off with Tazuna. I was literally dragging him the whole way, I was just so scared.

Soon, about an hour later, they came back. Kakashi-sensei was passed out. I was afraid he was dead, but Sasuke eased my worries easily. "He's alive, he just had extreme chakra exhaustion from using the Sharingan." Sasuke said. I knew I heard that word before... But, I didn't know where. Ryota jumped on my shoulder and whispered in my ear what all happened.

I didn't know it would get that bad. And the Hunter-nin took Zabuza away. That didn't sound right to me. Since The Land of Water has a more brutal system. No Hunter-nin would take a dead body away. They would burn it, not. My eyes widened, but I tried to take it out of my head. I couldn't. I was shaking. "Whoa, Aki-kun? Are you okay?" Naruto asked. Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, came in. "Wow, your pale! Maybe your should lie down Aki-san." she said. I looked at Naruto and Sasuke, who pretty much with their eyes were telling me to go take a nap. I looked at Ryota.

"Go to sleep, Commoner." he said while jumping off my shoulder. I nodded and went to the bedroom. I took out my storage scroll and put a smalll bit of chakra into it, and I got my sleeping bag out. I crawled in and did my best at going to sleep.

'Akiko-imoto...'

...

'Akiko-imoto, Akiiiiiiiiko! Wake up!"

My eyes opened and I saw Haku's smiling face.

I tried to open my mouth and speak, but I couldn't.

"Akiko-imoto, I have a question..."

'Oh no, not this part!'

"Why did you leave me? I thought you loved me! I really did Akiko... But, I guess, you just hated me.

'No, no Haku! No! I love you!'

"Well, I guess I might as well die all over again...'

Suddenly, were on a cliff, and he's on the edge. He calmly falls back, and I can't move and catch him.

"NOOOOOO!"

Suddenly, I woke up and see drops on my sleeping bag. I was bawling. It had been a long time since I had that dream. That dream, that terrible I thought I had finally moved on. Since there was a small chance that Haku was still alive. And I had given up hope, a long time before.

I rubbed my eyes and saw Ryota staring at me with a confused look in his eye's. "Wow, Commoner. Nightmares?" he asked. I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you figured it out before everyone..." he said. I tilted my head.

"Zabuza is most likely alive. And the Hunter Nin was most likely his accomplice. Scarecrow figured it out because the Hunter-nin didn't burn the body on sight, and the ninja used senbon to 'kill' him and those things are rarely fatal. Yeah, and he'll probably be back to finish off that damn Tazuna... Yeah, but I was kind of sent in here to wake you up. That damn Scarecrow Bastard told me to wake you up, and then he literally pushed me in here. But anyway, you guys will be training. Sounds boring, I'll take the shift of babysitting old guy..." Ryota said before munching on a carrot. I got up and put on my hat and shoes and left the room.

"You ready to train, Aki?! I bet were gonna learn awesome new jutsu! You excited!?" Naruto exclaimed. I sighed, because I really doubted that Kakashi-sensei was gonna teach us new jutsu. But I still nodded with an excited grin on my face, because theres always hope!

It ended up being, walking up trees. Its an exercise for chakra control, which mine was okay. Not exactly, uh, good. But not terrible either. I was able to walk halfway up the tree before sitting down on a tree branch. I smirked down at the two boys that were very much on the ground.

"Way to go, Aki! I knew you could do it!" Naruto yelled. I looked at Sasuke who had a smirk on his face, but a small glare in his eyes. It was really weird. I just waved at them.

"Well it seems Aki here has the best chance at becoming Hokage right now. And the Uchiha Clan isn't looking all that good compared to the Yuki Clan right now." Kakashi-sensei said teasingly. I gave a small silent laugh at Naruto who yelled,

"NO! AS FUTURE HOKAGE, I FORBID YOU FROM BEING HOKAGE!" pointing up at me.

Sasuke on the other hand just gained a full-fledged glare that was directed straight at me. I played with the end of my hat awkwardly before I jumped down with the kunai in hand. I gave the two boys a peace sign before running and running all the way to the top of the tree. I stumbled, a lot, on thet way up. But it was higher than Sasuke.

I was up there smiling proudly until I got a very familiar sensation in my nose. My eyes widened.

"AH-CHOOOOOO!"

I flew back, falling down the tree, catching myself halfway down the tree by holding on for dear life with my chakra. I sighed in relief.

"*sigh* We really need to invest in getting Aki some allergy medicine..." Kakashi-sensei said. The two boys standing next to him simply nodded.


	16. Chapter 16

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. -Albert Schweitzer

* * *

It took the boys a few days since we'd started tree climbing training. Really, not much happened that I wanted to get involved in. Really it seemed like a Sasuke and Naruto bonding thing. They were trying to beat each other. Naruto came and asked me for help.

**Try meditating a short period of time before doing it to give you more focus, and it makes it a lot easier! Be sure to tell Sasuke too!**

Naruto grinned, "Sure, I'll give it to him, believe it!" I gave a small smile.

I was soon sent to guard Tazuna during the day. We did some shopping, and somekid ended up asking me for food or money. I gave what little I had with a smile. I caught back up to Tazuna.

"Your a really quiet one, aren't you?" he said. I nodded. "Well, why?" I shrugged, I kind of wished Ryota was there to talk for me, since it seemed to be something he automatically did. Tazuna gave up on talking to me, and it was just an awkward silence.

At dinner, I was tempted to ask about a picture on the wall that had a tear in it, seeming to tear someone or something out. But Naruto beat me to it, "Hey, what's that picture? Why's it torn." I facepalmed, it was probably something that would make me cry.

"Hey, shut it, ya orange nicompoop! That's probably a sensitive subject, ya jerk!" Ryota exclaimed.

The boy, Inari, got up and left the table as Tazuna told the story of Kaiza.

He ended up being the father figure for Inari that had saved their small village. But he was executed by the infamous Gato because of his heroic deeds. That jerk... Naruto was determined to prove to Inari that there ae still heroes out there, and ran off for his training. I was worried and I wanted to go out there with him, but Kakashi-sensei said that he should be alone. I noddded and went to bed to ease my worries.

That morning, something felt weird. My chakra had that same feeling it did when Kakashi was fighting Zabuza. It was weird, as if my chakra was trying to go somewhere else. I wanted to follow it, but I had to stay and help protectTazuna, and it sounded risky. So I sent Ryota out to see if he can find anything suspicious out there.

"Hey! don't tell me what to do, Commoner!" Ryota exclaimed. But he hopped off into the forest mumbling and grumbling the whole time. I went to my backpack and found the summoning scroll I had been wanting to ask Kakashi-sensei about.

He was sitting down on the couch and I handed the scroll to him. His eyes slightly widened in recognition. "Hm, should have recognized the rabbit... This is Hikari-san's." I heard him whisper. I thought he must have known her.

"So I guess your wanting to sign to the Rabbit Summons... Okay, it's simple really. First, you cut your finger and sign your name on the contract and stamp your finger print under your name in blood. Then, all you have to do is find the place you want to summon it, mould your chakra with hand seals, then plant the hand you signed the contract with on the ground. But you need to remember the amount of chakra you use during the summoning determines how powerful the summon will be." Kakashi-sensei said. I did my best to retain everything that he told me. I nodded and went outside to begin working on it.

I saw Ryota hopping back right before I was gonna cut my finger. "Well, all I found was a Nincompoop..." he said with Naruto following him. "Hey, Aki! You'll never guess what just happened!"

"I met this girl, who claims to be a guy, but they were awesome! They were collecting herbs to help one of their friends, and we began to talk about our dreams. She said that when your protecting your precious person, that's when your the strongest! Doesn't she sound cool!?"

My eyes widened with tears threatening to come out. That person... It sounded... It sounded just like Haku! The girly looks, the saying he was a guy, the protecting your precious person... It sounded just like him.

"Whoa, Aki, what happened? Did I say something?!"

I ignored him, I dropped the scroll and ran into the woods.

Haku. My Onii-san. He was so special to me. I began to run faster and faster. I had to find him. He had to be somewhere out there.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind. I had my kunai in my hand, but I saw it was Sasuke.

"Why were you running, Aki-_chan_ ?" he asked. I twitched slightly at the use of 'chan'. "Really it doesn't matter. But htere is one thing I'm curious about... Why do you hide the fact that your a girl?" he asked. I shook my head quickly, "You can't hide the fact that your a girl, I already know. But I must tell you something..." I looked at him confused. Really all I cared about was finding Haku.

"One day, I'm going to revive the Uchiha clan. And your going to help." WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! WHAT?! I gave him a wide eyed stare. I was secretly hoping he wasn't going to rape me or something. "I don't like you, one bit at all. Actually I am more close to hating you. But, your strong. And I need someone strong so I can revive the clan into better than before." I was looking at him more wide eyed. I did a silent, 'KAI! KAI! KAI! Kai? kai?'

The day was getting weirder and weirder. I was about to run past him when Naruto tackled me. "AH! I'M SORRY AKI! PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR WHAT EVER I DID!" he yelled. I gave a small smile. I patted him on the head. Soon we were back at Tazuna and Tsunami's house. I instantly wanted to go to bed, happily skipping dinner. I was just so tired and I had much thinking to do. As I went to the bedroom, Naruto approached me.

"Hey, Aki, you forgot this. So I thought you'd need it." Naruto said. I gave him a smile and a fist bump. Ryota came up behind me and jumped on my shoulder. "Hey, sign that contract before you go to sleep, Commoner! I feel there's gonna be something bad ass that happens tomarrow!" Ryota exclaimed. I sighed and went outside.

I cut my finger with my kunai and easily wrote my name on the paper and stamped my right hand's finger prints on it. I stood back 'Summoning Jutsu!' and I firmly pressed my hand on the ground after molding my chakra.

A black rabbit with a dagger in its mouth appeared. He had a scar on one of his dark grey eyes. "Oi, Nori! Been a while, ya jerk!" Ryota exclaimed. The black rabbit looked over at him. "I see your still acting as Guardian of the Contract, Yoyo-chan..." Nori said with a cool deep voice.

"HEY, WATCH IT NORI! I'M OLDER THAN YOU AND ITS RYOTA-GOD-SAMA TO YOU, YA JERK!"

"Your very confident, considering you are one of the weakest of the summons of our species..."

"I've gotten more strong! I'll fight you right here, right now and show ya what I'm capable of!"

"Not now, I have to formally meet the Summoner. Everyone has been especially curious about her."

"Haha, you pussy, ya scared aren't ya!"

"... Whatever you arrogent buffoon... I am not fighting now. I have been summoned and I'm going to do her bidding."

He hopped towards me. "Please forgive my inappropiate behavior. Ryota and I have a rough history ("THATS AN UNDERSTATEMENT, BASTARD!") I am Nori. I am an expert at sneaking and catching people by surprise. I am very good with a kunai or dagger. Though I prefer a dagger." He did a bow. I bowed to him, I looked at Ryota who sighed.

"All right, this Aki. She's a girl who is seen as a guy by her idiotic friends and their village. She'ls mute, but normally if you look in her eyes you can tell what she wants you to do, and what she's thinking. But I'm a freaking master when it comes to the mind and stuff. So I don't expect an amateur like you to understand. But I will happily tell you what to do in battle, kay, ya jerk?"

"You just better take it seriously, you idiot."

"Oh shut it, Nori!"

Nori looked back at me, "It was a pleasure meeting you Aki-san." he gave a bow and disappeared with a poof! I looked at Ryota who was muttering several impleasentries. I let him climb on my shoulder, and we walked back in to see Naruto stomping out right past me, and I saw Inari crying. I looked back at him, at Inari, who was running outside, Sasuke who just smirked at me, and Kakashi who just looked, well normal.

I went to bed, and was woken up that morning being told it would just be me, Sasuke, and Kakashi (AND RYOTA!) escorting Tazuna to the bridge leaving Naruto to get much needed rest. When we got there, I instantly felt something was wrong.

**This chapter kind of sucked... I really didn't want to spend 4 hours watching the episode and writing down what exactly happened. So I kind of winged it, some from memory, some from Wikipedia. sorry, but its just I'm readdy for the next chapter. And gosh, this took for rever and too much stuff happened this chapter. Sorry, but I have a feeling the next chapter will be my favorite!**

**Anime Song of the Day is... Secret Base from Anohana:The Flower We Saw that Day! One of the saddest animes ever. I had the nice idea to watch Kanon 2006, Anohana, Angel Beats,d 500 Centimeters per Second one after one. Not good idea, it was very depressing TT-TT. But, if you haven't seen Anohana, go watch it. NOW! It's amazing and beautiful. Plus, its by the same studio that made Sword Art Online! And, I guess I should say, the opening is awesome! I love them both! Aoi Shiori, is awesome!**

**Seriously, go watch that show. It's like 11 episodes long, you can have an All-Nighter on in (I did that on Thanksgiving!). And you can watch it all for free on Crunchyroll. Seriosuly, go. **

**Anyway, please review, and follow, and favorite. But I really appreciate reviews so I can know exactly how you feel. I know this chapter sucks... You don't have to tell me.. Anyway, bye! May Jashin stay away from you! Lolz :3**


	17. Chapter 17

Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. -Lilo and Stitch

* * *

The air suddenly got fogged up. No, it wasn't fog. My eyes widened, it was mist.

"Sasuke, Aki! Get ready!" Kakashi commanded. I got a hold of my kunai, and threw up a food pill that Ryota ate happily, and he jumped to the ground in his bigger form. "Let's do this, Commoners!" Ryota exclaimed.

"Sorry I kept you waiting Kakashi..." I heard a voice say. I was hit with killer intent at that moment. My knees were shaking, but I was gonna beat the fact that I was scared.

"I see you have those little brats with you. That one's still trembling. And the other looks like he wants to run away again. Pitiful." Suddenly, there were Zabuza's all around us. I instantly threw up my shuriken, and reverse weaponed it right at him. Or his clone. Ryota headbutted another one, then Sasuke got the rest on his own, with his speed, and strength.

"Oh, so you two could see they were water clones... Your brats are improving, Kakashi. Maybe, we'll get a chance to see the coward in action." Zabuza said. I gave him a glare.

"Maybe, you two would make good rivals for Haku." my eyes widened, and my heart almost stopped. Haku, Haku was the accomplice. He was the one that my team and I would have to fight?

'Onii-san...'

A part of my brain was focusing on what was going on around me, but the other part was focusing on one things.

'No, it can't be...'

'No.'

'NO.'

"I'm taking him out. Who does he think he's fooling in that mask like some sort of clown." Sasuke said.

'No, Sasuke. He can't... But Haku... But Sasuke... My team... My family... I should be the one to go against Haku, but... I can't move. Damn it. I'm weak. Damn it. DAMN IT. DAMN IT!'

I suddenly felt cold. Ryota looked at me. "Commoner, stop letting out that cold air!" Ryota exclaimed. I had to decide, who was more precious to me. My team, or my brother. Should I help Sasuke, or should I stay behind and protect Tazuna. But, this, this was my brother.

Haku quickly came towards Sasuke. Sasuke had his kunai out, and blocked Haku's blade that would have stabbed him. It all came down to a test of strength then, they were struggling to overpower each other. I had a kunai in my hand. I wanted to throw it Haku, for Sasuke's sake, but at Sasuke for Haku's safe. He was my brother, blood is thicker than water. And I didn't care for Sasuke, why would I consider hurting my brother for him?

_"Those who abandon the rules are scum, but those abandon their friends are worse than scum..."_

_"Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum..."_

_"Worse than scum..."_

_"Scum..."_

"AKI! Focus! Cover Tazuna! And let Sasuke handle this!" Kakashi-sensei exclaimed. I had a single tear running down my face. Because I knew I would most likely not follow his orders. The two boys clashed, until they were still with total equilibrium.

"I don't want to have to kill you...I have two key advantages." Haku said.

"Oh yeah? What are they?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"Were surrounded by water, second, I am blocking one of your hands. Therefore, you only have one free hand to defend your self with. "

Suddenly, Haku began to do hand signs with one hand. "Secret Jutsu. A Thousand Needles of Death."

I gasped. That was B-Rank I was in the process of learning while back at the village. I was trying to find a way to stop that attack. I thought of one way to possibly, give Sasuke a few seconds to get out of there.

As the water was gathering, I began to think snow. 'I'm in the Yuki Clan! I can do this! Freeze.' I focused the cold air gathering around me at the water, I could feel it freezing. The water needles were fighting the freeze. They began to descend upon Sasuke and Haku. Haku jumped out of the way, then the needles freezed just as Sasuke was jumping away. Then, I concentrated even more on Haku. 'I have to do this. I have to give the water the will to go straight to Haku. Not killing him, but knocking him out.'

As Sasuke was in the air throwing shuriken at Haku, I was shooting the ice needles at him, just in sync with Sasuke.

Sasuke appeared right behind him, "Your not as fast as you think. From this point on, you'll be the one defending from my attacks." I gave a small glare at Sasuke who seemed not even notice that I was helping him from a distance.

They began to hit each other with their taijutsu, and Sasuke threw a kunai at him. Haku ducked down, when Sasuke kicked him and sent him flying.

'Onii-san!'

"You weren't that fast!" Sasuke said confidently, he looked back at me with a confident smirk. I gave him a teary glare.

"You made a big mistake insulting these ninja calling them brats. That's just guarenteed to bring out Sasuke's attitude. Sasuke Uchiha is the best young fighter in the village. Aki Yuki is the fastest in planning and running. And last, but not least, our number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja is Naruto Uzumaki."

I saw Haku begin to gather cold air around him. I narrowed my eyes, what ever he was about to do, I would be the one to stop him and I'd show mercy. Sasuke wouldn't.

I bit my right hand and slammed it on to the ground. A small poof was heard, and a big dark yellow rabbit the size of a large dog and a smaller dark grey rabbit appeared.

"Yo!" The two rabbits said.

"Oi, Raijin, Raiju! I guess we get to protect this old fart together! Commoner, over here wants to join the fight!" Ryota exclaimed. They looked at me and I nodded.

"Hai, Summoner-sama!" they exclaimed getting in a fighting position.

The three large rabbits surrounded Tazuna protecting him from every possible angle.

Haku was gathering more and more cold air.

"I'm sorry it has come to this." Haku said grimly. He did a hand sign, and ice mirrors began to form around the two.

I was about to rush forward, but I stopped. I couldn't fight Haku. I already had enough guilt as it was. If I killed him. But no, he would kill Sasuke.

'Onii-san'

'Sasuke'

'No...'

'I'm not scum.'

'I'm not weak.'

'I-I... No.'

'NO.'

I opened my mouth as I rushed forward, "ONII-SAN!"


	18. Chapter 18

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. -Franklin D. Roosevelt

* * *

"Aki, what are you doing here?!" Sasuke asked furiously. "Onii-san..." I whispered. Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized, I had just spoken. "My twin brother, Haku. I haven't seen him in years. Now, the first time I see him, I have to fight him." I whisper. I looked at Sasuke. "I can get you out of here. I have to be the one to fight him." I said with a dark seriousness in my tone. Though I didn't anything close to hatred in my eye's, I had nothing by love. Sasuke nodded, as if he understood exactly how I felt. As if anyone had to fight him, it would have to be me.

Haku was putting him self inside one of the ice mirrors. I focused my chakra at a nearby mirror. I willed it to collapse into itself, as soon as it did, Sasuke jumped out. I knew I owed him now.

"Akiko-imouto... You should have stayed out of this fight. Now I have to kill you." Haku said as he appeared on each mirror. "Precious... My teammates are my precious people. But you, you too are precious to me. That is why I have to be the one to fight you. Onii-san." I said.

"You are precious to me too. But I have precious people I am fighting for too. So losing to my little sister is not an option. So, I guess we. Shall. Begin." Haku said.

I got in my Modified Water Fist stance with my hands in fists. Senbon came flying at me, I hit them all back to Haku. But then they began to come from all different sides. "Ice Release: Ice Wall!" I yelled focusing my chakra on the ground behind me. The ice wall set behind me, protecting me from the senbon coming behind and above me. I used the reverse weaponry technique and did my best not to get hit with those sharp senbon.A few had gotten past me ripping part of my shirt, cutting my face, and one went through my hat and it stuck into the ice wall behind me.

More and more began to get past my defence and hit me. Then, the wall broke, and I was again getting hit from all sides by sharp senbon. "AHHHHHHHH!"

"Commoner!"

"Stop, Ryota, the orders were to protect the man!"

"Shut up, ya jerk!"

I heard a hop and saw above me that Ryota was trying to come in, but Haku was instantly there and he punched him sending him flying out of sight. "Ryota!" I exclaimed. I felt tears begin to come out of my eyes. I felt anger take over me. "You... You..." I was shaking with anger. "It is amazing you can still stand, Akiko-imouto. But, it is time I finish this." He had his hand back, preparing to throw another goup of senbon at me when someone punched him. Haku went crashing to the ground right near I was laying. I looked up, it had to be him. It was,

"Number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja..."

"Naruto Uzumaki, is here! Yeah, believe it!" he said with a smirk on his face.

"Ha, now that I'm here, everything will alright!" he exclaimed. "Naruto..." I whispered. "You know when the hero shows up at the end of the story and kicks butt? Thats whats about to happen right now, believe it!"

I facegrounded... (Faceground: the equivelent to a facepalm but on the ground. Similar to 'Everybody do the Flop' and Facewall) Haku seemed to be staring at him. "Alright! Your history, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" As he did the handsign, Zabuza threw senbon at him.

"No! Naruto!" he just stood there. I tried to get up, but I couldn't. Sasuke looked like he was about to run in front of Naruto to take the hit, but he probably knew he wasn't fast enough for that. But, Haku threw shurikan that hit the senbon, causing them both to fall to the ground.

'Why would Onii-san save Naruto?'

I thought as I gasped.

"Naruto! This is a battle, not a talent show. Don't let your opponent see your jutsu! A Shinobils art is deception. Always keep the enemy guessing! Even when your performing a jutsu, you have to distract your enemies attention and catch them off guard..."

As Kakashi-sensei was talking I was prepared to throw a kunai, since Haku was in my kunai range, which isn't that big.

I threw it, and it went straight past Haku, and he didn't even seem to notice. 'Damn my inability for throwing weapons!'

"Haku! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Sorry, but, I want to fight these two my own way. Please."

Naruto had his fists clenched, "Bring it on!" I felt a power flurry inside me, the feeling was familiar. I struggled, but I got up, "Let's go, Onii-san." I said confidently.

Naruto gave me a confused look at probably the fact that I talked. "Aki! You talked!"

"Now is not the time to be focusing on my socialization. But just know, that this is my brother, and we have the same Kekkei Genkai, so I want to fight him my own way too. If I need you, I will call for you. But for now stay out here. Let's commence, Onii."

"Haku, your going soft!" Zabuza said.

I looked down at my wounds. He could have easily killed me, but he didn't hit one of my vital points. He wasn't trying to kill me. But, he could have. Maybe my brother was still in there somewhere.

Suddenly, Sasuke who was standing with the two remaining rabbits threw a kunai at me threw one of the gaps in the mirrors, I smirked I took my hand and quickly reverse weaponed it right at where Haku stood.

"Akiko, I would have expected you to know when you are outmatched. You are beaten, just stay out of this fight." Haku said. He suddenly appeared in the mirrors.

"No way, and leave my comrads to fight you. That is something only scum would do." I said. 'Time to show my moves.'

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" I said as soon I was done doing the handsigns. 'If he's in here, my water wave will flush him out!' I thought. Once the water was gone, he was still in the mirrors.

"You won't be able to flush me out, Akiko." Haku said with his senbon up, about to throw them. He threw them all at me, I was able to use the reverse weaponry technique on some of the senbon, but there were too many, too many were coming at me at once. "AHHHHH!"

I heard three people yell my name.

"SHUT UP, MY I'M THE GUARDIAN OF THE SCROLL I'M GOIN IN!"

Suddenly I felt a small rumble from under me, and from below the ground, Ryota came up from the ground as I was curled up on the ground covering my head.

"Commoner, I'm getting you out of here." Ryota said. I had tears running down my face as the senbon suddenly stopped.

"No. He's my brother, I'm the one who won't try to kill him in the end. It has to be me who defeats him. I have one last jutsu, my most powerful. Though its incomplete, I have to try it. Make sure Naruto doesn't come in. Knowing him, he will try." I said. Ryota narrowed his eyes.

"After this, I'm getting you out of here." Ryota said. I nodded.

"If this is your most powerful jutsu, I won't allow you to complete it. Because if you possibly beat me, I'll be no more than a broken tool." Haku said. He had his senbon out, I immediatly did the many handsigns, trying to ignore the extreme pain. I put most of my remaining chakra into it, I heard the two summons poof away, And I smirked.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!" my chakra almost completely gone, the dragon came from the nearby lake, hitting the Ice mirrors. I felt dizzy.

'No.'

'Not now.'

'Please, I need to save him.'

Everything went black.

...

...

...

'Wow, this blackness is somehow relaxing. It feels light and fluffy to me.'

'But who exactly is me?'

'Who am I?'

...

"You are Aki. Yet you choose to ignore me, the used to be you." said a girls voice. Suddenly, I was in a room, what was dark, I saw a girl with long black hair and brown eyes sitting on a bed across from me.

"What do you mean your the used to be me?" I asked.

"When you were young you used to me. A girl that was playful, loved reading, and loved to spend time with Kaa-san, Tou-san, Hikari-san, and Onii-san. But then, I was killed. Not literally, but in a sense. I was no longer in existance along with Kaa-san and Tou-san. But you took my place, more strong but, I have been alone. Everytime the memories haunted you, they haunted me worse. You acted as if it was just in a past life though you still had a small, I'll say "after taste" from what happened with me, Akiko."

My eyes widened as everything came back to me in a flash.

"I have to leave! I have to get out of here!" I yelled. "Please accept me before you leave. So, maybe I won't have to stay in this hell anymore."

'I can't, she was the weakness. She was the girl Tou-san killed that snowy day years ago. I'm not his little girl anymore. I never will be again.' I thought.

"I am strong, and I will help you in your fight. Because once you accept your fear rather than ignore it, you are stronger than you ever were before." Akiko said.

That was something Hikari-san said to me once before. Hikari-san, the thought of her made me smile.

"Okay, I will let you in again. I guess this will be hard road, but I have to do this to get stronger, for me, and for Haku." I said. I stepped forward and embraced my seperate personality. And all of it faded into black once again.

...

...

...

"I murdered your comrade, your beloved friend, and almost killed my twin sister and you still want to spare me?" Haku's voice asked.

'I'm not dead. I have a little chakra. I feel better, on the inside, and the out. I'm ready to finish this battle.' I got up and it surprised Ryota.

"Aki! Lay back down, your team has got this."

"It's Akiko, Ryota. My name is Akiko, and I am ready for this."

I started to hear Haku as soon as he said, "Please take my life." I growled as I heard this. But I was far away, my muscles were still weak, I was limping as fast as I could, "Buy me time, Naruto. Buy me time..." I whispered as I limped as fast as I could.

Once I got close, Naruto was about to stab Haku, but then he looked over at Zabuza seeing a very powerful technique about to kill him. I leaped forward tackling Haku. But I wasn't about to earn his hatred. I put all of my the remaining chakra I had into this move. "Ice Release: Ice Clone" The clone that looked like Haku ran infront of this obviously strong jutsu. It went right threw him, Kakahi-sensei instantly stopped when the clonce turned into me, then disappeared into ice.

"Good job, Haku." but right when Zabuza said that, there was a large army of men, seeming to be led by a small older man coming towards the bridge.

"Zabuza!" the old man called. Haku tensed, and gently go me off of him. I was beginning to lose conciousness. I was fighting as hard as I could. "Gato! What are you doing here with all these people?" Zabuza called. "Oh, there has been a change in plans. Or your plans. Your going to die demon, right here, and right now." Gato called out. Haku got up and ran to Zabuza's side. I couldn't stop him, I couldn't even try. I was too weak.

It was getting harder to hear, things were blurry, all I could see was Haku and Zabuza running towards the ninja together. And then, for the third time that day, things were black. 'I guess this is chakra exhaustion...'

* * *

Dudes, did you sEE the follower and favorite count!? Over 50 followers and over 40 favoriters! Ah, the Baka over here feels so good! And, really, I hope I didn't confuse anyone in this chapter. Its the longest I've typed, and I don't know if its any good. I tried to make this the best one, and the most dramatic. Did I do okay? I need someone to tell me, please...

And if your reading down here, thank you! Because you have read this far in the story and that is really awesome, thank you!

And also, I'm wanting to do a Valentines day special with maybe pairings you guys are going for. They would be totally crack and everything, but maybe you guys would like it! It would have to include Aki, sorry, but I wanted it to be up on this story so I won't have to go and seperate the stories. But if you don't want me to... That's okay, I can just do a serious chapter like normal people... Pshhh HAHAHAHAHA, normal people, on Fanfiction!? Lol, just kidding, you guys are awesome! Cause normal people are boring anyway...

Anyway, review if you have comments, questions, pairings for the Valentines Day special, or anything. Oh, and constructive critism is allowed, cause I know I am no where near perfect! And, um, yeah, thanks for reading Dudes! Whoa, I sounded like America (SHAMELESSS HETALIA REFERENCE)


	19. Chapter 19

"Being Sister and Brother means being there for each other." -Unknown

* * *

I woke up groggy, and just feeling weak, as if I would barely be able to move once I was fully alert. I could hear talking but the words were slurring together. Soon they began to become more clear and clear.

"Haku, I want you to stay here with your sister."

"But Zabuza-sama..."

"Your sister is alive. And I don't want to seperate two siblings who have no one but each other. Plus, she needs you."

"Hai, Zabuza-sama. But I'll see you again soon, please?"

"Eventually yeah. Let's just not make this whole thing more emotional then it has to be."

I could easily tell who was talking, but my vision was still blurry and my hearing was going in and out.

"Err..." I stirred.

"Aki!"

"Akiko-imouto!"

My eyes began to clear. Sasuke, Naruto, and Haku were standing above me. Zabuza and Kakashi were standing to the side. I could see I was in one of the bedrooms at Tazuna's house. "Ohaiyo..." I said quietly.

"Aki! Your awake!" Naruto yelled as he roughly hugged me. "SHUT IT YA NINCOMPOOP! AND GET OFF OF HER!" Ryota yelled.

"Damn rabbit."

"Stupid human."

"Hey, your coat is looking a little, dull..." Naruto said with a smirk.

"AHHHH! NO DON'T LOOK AT ME, I'M HIDEOUS!" Ryota yelled hopping away.

"Akiko-imouto, are you okay?" Haku asked, leaning closer to me. "Yes, I'm feeling well as I can considering the circumstances..." I said.

"I'm still getting used to this whole Aki being a girl thing..." Naruto grumbled.

"You've been her friend and close to her more than I have and I easily figured it out... Your such a loser..." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke!"

Kakashi-sensei cleared his throat getting our attention, "Well, Akiko, our mission is actually almost over. We only have a few more days here." He said. I nodded, "Um, Sensei? Where is everybody?" I asked referring to Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari.

"Their all cooking in the kitchen." Kakashi-sensei said. I tried to sit up, but I could barely move. "So, are you sure you feel okay, Akiko?" Naruto asked. I nodded. "HEY DINNERS READY!" they all heard the yell.

Suddenly almost everyone ran to the kitchen. I was left with Haku... and Sasuke. "Sasuke, do you mind if I speak to my sister alone?" Haku asked politely. "Like hell I'll leave a comrade with an enemy." Sasuke said with a smirk. "I will not harm her, but I understand why you do not wish to leave. I'll talk to her here with you in the room." Haku said. Sasuke grunted at him.

"Akiko, I want to apoligize to you, for hurting you. And I hope you don't have any ill feelings towards me." Haku said bowing to me. "Oh, there was nothing to be mad at you for. We were fighting for our own reasons. So there is no need to feel bad. It made me stronger." I said looking at him with tears threatening to run down my face. "And Akiko, with your permission, I would like to go back to your village with you."

My eyes widened, and grin was plastered on my face. I suddenly felt strength as I sat up and hugged him. "Yes!"

**~OMAKE~**

**Naruto's POV**

Haku, Kakashi-sensei, and Sasuke had been in the room with Aki for ever. I was skeptical about letting Haku in there with him. But Haku was obviously worried about his twin. But I was really focusing on one thing other than my worry. Haku called Aki "imouto" and that is usually used for little sisters, ya know?

I knew that some times Aki at certain angles could look a little girly, but, he was obviously guy, right?

When Haku, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei came out, they looked relieved. "She'll be okay. Just chakra exhaustion and some cuts, bumps, and bruises." Kakashi-sensei. I sighed in relief. "Thank god! Wait... Why are you calling Aki a she? He's a guy, believe it!" I exclaimed.

All three of them just gave me a look. "You seriously didn't figure it out?" Sasuke asked.

"Figure what out?" I asked.

"Your Aki was born as Akiko. She's my twin sister."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

'So my best friend, the person that I would trick into paying for my ramen, the person that would stand up for me in the Academy, is a GIRL!?'

I was really trying to make sense of it. But then I looked over at the three. "Well it isn't like it was super easy to figure out!" I exclaimed.

"Yes it was." Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke said. It seemed Haku just wanted to get back to his sister and was in the room.

"Oh really? How did you it, Sasuke?" I said.

Sasuke's eyes widened. I could see a small blush on his face. "No way, your blushing Sasuke!" I exclaimed. "Now I have to know how you found out. It must have been pretty bad." I could suddenly feel killers intent from the room.

"Yes, Sasuke. I must know how you found out. Let's just hope it is nothing inappropiate. Because she is my little sister..."" Haku said with a dark aura around him.

I got the urge to run, it seemed Kakashi-sensei dissappeared, and I made sure to do the same thing leaving that Sasuke to meet his fate.

'Thats what you get for being such a jerk!'

* * *

I'm not really planning on doing omake's every chapter. I might if you like it, but I don't know. How do you feel about the protective Haku? Heh heh, that was for comical purposes, lolz. And actually the Tensai, Morgan told me I should do something about Naruto finding out Aki's a girl, but yeah...

Really, I'm excited about next chapter. I might do maybe a filler chapter with some Haku and Aki bonding, then... Chunin Exams! Y'all excited? I can't hear ya, Are you excited!? Ya, that won't work...

Oh, am I forgetting something...

Oh yeah, please Review once you read. And don't be a ghost reader. Be a kind reviewer, please!

Lovez and Hugz! ^-^


	20. Chapter 20

There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt. -Erma Bombeck

* * *

I was so happy when we got back to the Village. But as we were coming up on the gate, I was nervous. That the Hokage wouldn't let Haku stay with me, since he was traveling with a missing nin.

"Kakashi-sensei?" I asked quietly. "Hm?" he asked. "Do you think the Hokage will let Haku stay with me?" I asked. "That's hard to answer, Akiko." Kakashi-sensei said.

"Ah, the old man will let him in, believe it! Even if I have to do my Sexy Jutsu to make him do it!" Naruto exclaimed. "Your such a loser..." Sasuke said.

"SHUT UP, SASUKE! MY AWESOME JUTSU WOULD TOTALLY WORK!"

"Oh, come on guys! Arguing is not neccesary..." I said. But they ignored me as they got into an Insult Match. Suddenly Ryota joined in on the 'fun.'

So we had two arguing adolescents and a rodent arguing, a sensei reading his book, and me and Haku.

"Does this happen alot?" he asked me.

"Yes, it does. There seems to never be a dull moment with these two. Or more like Naruto. With Sasuke he'll either be creepy and speak in the language of grunts." I answered.

"Well, do you think the Hokage will let me stay in the village?" he asked.

I looked up in thought. "Maybe. He let me in. But he had a Blond Bub use a jutsu that goes in to my mind to make sure there was no ill thoughts towards the village. Though it was harmless and it was understandable. He has the village to think about and it was not like I could just walk in the gates and he let me stay. That I would find ridiculous."

"Ah... I agree. I think it was very smart to do that. Though they may do something more severe to me because I am a Shinobi and I have a fair amount of chakra." he said. I nodded, but I really hoped the Hokage wouldn't do anything too terrible to Haku. But I trusted the Hokage, he was a kind and generous man.

"THAT'S IT! I'M TAKING YOU TWO DOWN!"

"BRING IT ON, BELIEVE IT!"

"You two are such losers..."

I looked over at Haku, "I'm sorry, but I believe I better intervene. I would hate for them to hurt each other. They can be odd sometimes..." I said. I ran off to get an especially mad rabbit off of Naruto's hair.

* * *

**OMAKE**

**Haku's POV**

"So tell me, Sasuke..." the killer intent was just pouring out of me. I gave the boy a smile. His eyes widened as I walked calmly over to him sending harsher and harsher waves.

"Hn. I don't have to tell you anything." he said turning his head away from me. "Oh, are you too much of a tough guy to answer a simple question?" I asked. "..." He was silent for a minute, before he began to talk.

**10 Minutes Later**

"Well, Naruto. I built a small shrine in the boy's memory." I said. Naruto looked at the small shrine. "Oh... Really?" Naruto asked. He kneeled down, "Well, I guess Haku got you, ya jerk." he said.

"Oh, hello, I brought something for the shrine." I heard a soft voice say. I turned around and saw Akiko with a small tear in her eye. She set down a tomato and a picture of a black duck. "Inari drew something in memory of him." she said with a small smile. She kneeled down and put the tomatoes and the drawing on the shrine. "Rest In Peace, Sasuke."

**Sasuke's POV**

It seemed those idiots didn't notice right behind the shrine was a tree that I was tied to. I couldn't even use and escape jutsu to get out. And they all acted I was dead. That damn Haku knocked me out and I found my self tied to a tree with a cloth in my mouth. Kakashi was right above me reading his book in the tree, acting as if I wasn't there.

'This is so stupid!'

"Rest in peace, Sasuke." he heard a soft voice that was obviously Akiko's say.

"Yeah, even if you were a jerk." he heard Naruto say.

"You had it coming, Sasuke." he lastly heard Haku say.

Kakashi was above me chuckling.

This team is annoying. It seemed that the only person who was completely sane was me.

* * *

You? Sasuke motherfiretrucking Uchiha sane?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA WHATEVER! Lolz, I just had to do this second omake since someone suggested it. That was kinda the main purpose of this chapter. I wasn't gonna update til tomarrow, but I guess this was cool, didn't take too long. So yeah, thanks for the reviews!

And someone talked about pairings. And they said AkiNaru. What do you think? Me I have no idea... Just be sure to tell me what pairing you want, but love won't be like the main thing with the story, well as of now. Maybe later... But anyway...

Please review, and don't be a ghost reader!

Next chapter, probably a nice bonding montage or something!

And...

Luvz and Hugz! ^-^


	21. Chapter 21

When we got to the village, the Chunin that were guarding the gate were eyeing Haku suspiciously. And I could almost feel the ANBU's stares on Haku. But it seemed everyone else was not even noticing it. And I couldn't quite ignore it. "Hey, Commoner, what's on your mind?" Ryota asked.

I just shook my head, since there was nothing really on my mind. "Oh, your not about to go back to being mute, are ya?" he asked I laughed and shook my head again. It felt great to laugh.

When we made it to the Hokage's tower we were immediatly let in, despite the fact the guards were also wary of Haku. As we walked in, the Hokage looked slightly surprised about the fourth person that walked in. "Well,I suppose I should ask you about your C-Rank, but I'm really curious about this boy. Is this Haku?" he asked.

"Yes, this is my brother..." I said softly. He looked a little more surprised about the fact I talked. "Well, today is full of surprises, I guess the story about Haku and your mission overlapped. So go ahead, Kakashi, tell me about what happened."

As Kakashi-sensei told the Hokage what happened, I saw a mix of emotions on the man's face. There was confusion and anger more confusion some surprised in there and just a large sigh at the end of it all. We got paid for an A-Rank and I for one was very happy. I had some much needed to shopping to do. Soon, we were all dismissed, except for Haku and I.

"So you want to join the village and stay with your sister?" The Hokage said. Haku nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama." he said. The Hokage blew some smoke out of his pipe. "Well, there are certain percautions I have to do, and since you are a Shinobi, I will have to consolt the Council about this." he said. "I understand."

The Hokage called for Inoichi and when he got there, I waved. "Ohaiyo, Blond-Bub-san!" I exclaimed. "Hi there, Aki, I see your talking again." I nodded enthusiastically. "I guess this is the famous Haku. It's nice to meet you." he said. "Hi, I'm Haku, its a pleasure to meet you too." Haku said with a smile. Haku looked over at me, "Things should be sorted out soon, you go ahead and do that shopping you had been talking about. I'll meet you outside this building in a little bit, okay?" he said. I nodded and went out side to the downtown. I had no idea where to go to get good girls clothing that would be good for fighting in. I could just go to one of the ninja stores... Then I had an idea.

"Tenten!" I said as soon as I saw her training with the rest of Team Gai. I gave her hug. "Aki-kun! Your talking!" she said with wide eyes. "What?! Did I hear that the youthful Aki is back!" I heard a certain sensei's voice say. "Hi, Gai-sensei! It's nice to see your doing well!" I said with a smile. I found my self with two sets of arms around me giving me a bone crushing hug. "S-Sensi. L-Lee... I kinda-" I couldn't quite talk. 'Where is Ryota when you need him.' I thought. (Ransacking a nearby garden).

"You two are killing Aki-kun!" she exclaimed. They reluctantly let me go. I saw Neji who was meditating by himself. "Hi, Neji... Are you doing well for your self?" I asked. He opened one eye and scoffed. "I'm doing fine. Now go away." he said. I pouted, 'l guess somethings never change.'

I looked over at Tenten. "Ne, Tenten?" I asked shyly. She threw another shuriken at the dummy and hit the things 'heart'. "Yeah, Aki-kun?" She said. "Um, I was wondering if I could take you away from your training for some... help..." I said shyly. "What do you need help with?" she asked. "Will you help me find clothes? I'm not the best when it comes to picking out clothes..." I whispered in her ear.

"FINDING CLOTHES, YOU SAY!? I CAN HELP WITH THAT! I KNOW WHERE TO GET THE BEST JUMPSUITS AT!" Lee said loudly. My eyes widened, "Oh, no no no... Weren't you wanting to, um, get back at Neji for calling you unyouthful?" I asked nervously. I glanced over at Neji who was glaring at me harshly. I jumped and hid behind Tenten, "Gomen. Gomen. Gomen. Gomen..." I muttered under my breat. As Lee and Gai-sensei went and focused on Neji, Tenten and I ditched them.

"So why do you suddenly need my help?" Tenten asked. "Well... Its kind of a long story... But I'm a female... And I was wanting to make it a little more noticable that I'm a girl. And you were one of the only girls I know that could help..." I said. Tenten looked stunned, but gave me a smile, "Well, your voice is a little girly... But, heck, it will be cool to have a girl as friend! Let's do some shopping."

What I learned about Tenten was, that she could be a girly girl if she wanted to. And really, it was fun hanging out. But we weren't finding anything modest, appealing, and some what girly. That's when we ran into Sakura and Ino who were argueing.

"Sasuke-kun is mine!"

"Oh really, then I guess that makes Aki-kun, mine!"

"No way, Ino-Pig, they both are mine and they both want me!"

"In your dreams, Forehead!"

I walked over to them with a Tenten who felt a little awkward. Ino and Sakura noticed me.

"Aki-kun! It's been forever since I've seen your adorable face! I heard you went on a C-Rank! Was it fun! Was it?!

"Aki-kun, do you want to go on a date? Ino-Pig said you took her on a date, I thought you could take me on one two!"

I cleared my throat, "Um, excuse me?" I said with my naturally small voice. They didn't seem to hear me. "Um, Ino-san? Sakura-san?" I said. They still couldn't seem to hear me.

"LISTEN UP!" Tenten yelled angrily. The two girls stopped bickering and noticed the girl next to me. "Well, who are you?" Ino asked. "You better not be on a date with Aki-kun!"

"Um, excuse me?" I asked the two girl's heads whipped towards me. "KYAAAAAAA! AKI-KUN JUST TALKED WITH THE CUTEST VOICE EVER!" The two screamed. "Ino-san... Sakura-san..." I said. The two looked at me. "Since I saw you two today, I wanted to tell you two something... I'm a girl..." I said, bracing myself for a loud reaction.

"Your a girl?" Ino said. I nodded. "Seriously?" Sakura asked. I nodded again, "So instead of dating, can we all be friends perhaps?" I said. The two girls were speechless. I didn't think everyone would take as well as Tenten did.

"Tenten, over here, is helping me shop for some female clothes... Perhaps, you two can help. Since you two are both very good dressers, maybe? I understand if you two are busy!" Ino and Sakura looked at eachother.

"I'm not doing anything. And I'll happily hang out with you even if Forehead is there to ruin it."

"Watch it Ino-Pig. You'd be the ruining the fun." They began to glare at each other, and I could see the electric current that their rival glares were making. I quickly got in between them along with Tenten, "Let's go!"

We went to many stores and they had found a cute outfit for me in about 30 minutes. There was a cute shirt that was a dark blue wrap around that had a lighter blue under it. I had a matching blue skirt that I put the two pins on. The same pins that were on my ruined hat. I got a dark brown mesh armor tank top, shorts, to put under the outfit and mesh armor knee protectors. I had my normal Shinobi sandals on, and my forehead protector wrapped around my forehead. I looked cute, and actually like a girl. The girls were very proud of their handy work and I think bonded during the short time of shopping. We all ate dango afterwards and then left them to meet Haku, who smiled as soon as he saw me.

"Akiko-imouto, you look cute." he said with a smile. "Thank you, Onii-san! Are you hungry? We can go and get you something to eat." I said. He nodded.

"I know a place that has some of the best Unadon ever! They have great quality eel!" I exclaimed. Haku chuckled, "I'm surprised you didn't recommend somewhere that had dango or anmitsu since you do like sweets." he said. I gave a grin, "I had some dango earlier with some friends... It was delicious! So, Onii-san, do you want that Unadon?" I asked. "Yes, that sounds good."

We made our way to the restaraunt talking about everything, on the way, while we were eating, and even on the way back to my small 2 bedroom apartment.

And really, I was just happy. I was with my older brother and we were having fun. And really, I felt like that was how siblings should be.

I didn't end up seeing Ryota until late that night who came to the apartment with mud all over him, begging me to wash him and brush him. I sighed and did what the "Great Rabbit God-sama" told me. Since he wouldn't let me sleep until I did so. Not to copy Shikamaru, but what a drag...

* * *

I hope this filler chapter was to your liking, next chapter is the start of... CHUNIN EXAMS! I'm so pumped, I'm pumped, I'm so freaking pumped! And as you could see, I totally suck at describing clothes, but Tensai and I have a DeviantArt account that you can check out to see our drawings. Theres a link to our DeviantArt Account on our profile, or you could look up BakaAndTensaiArt, and that's us!

Now it seems, mostly people are for either AkiNaru or AkiSasu, but I had on for AkiGaara. Which to tell you the truth, earlier in the story when I was trying not to think about pairings, that's the pairing I thought of. But, I don't know... *Sigh* I'm so hopeless sometimes.

AND THANKS SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING! I've got 40 Reviews and I'm like (OoO) "HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE!" My parents must think I'm a totally weird no life. Heh, that actually might be true...

Anyway, here's something I haven't done in a while, Anime Song of the Day goes to... My Soul your Beats, opening for Angel Beats (TT-TT) So. Sad.

Yeah, don't be a Ghost reader, and leave a Review! One Review feeds a carrot and temper tanrtum to Ryota.

"WHY THE HELL AM I HAVING THIS RANDOM ANGER! SHUT UP YA ORANGE NINCOMPOOP!"

Why look at that... LOLZ.

Luvz and Hugz ^-^ ~~~Baka!


	22. Chapter 22

You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that. -Michael Jordan

* * *

After a few days off, we were back to D-Ranks. They were very boring, but going home was a lot of fun. I was spending time with either Haku or Ino, Sakura, and Tenten. And Haku would help me with our kekkei genkai and other Ice Release ninjutsu. He even began to teach me about his Crystal Ice Mirrors. I knew I wouldn't be able to use them correctly for a while, but it was fine.

Then, one day, it was a normal day. We were waiting on Kakashi-sensei because we had to do a D-Rank. Ryota was on my shoulder snoring and Naruto and Sasuke were making electric currents with their glares. I sighed, 'Yes, just a normal day.'

About three hours later, Kakashi-sensei finally showed up."Good morning, I'm afraid I got lost on the way here! Heh, heh."

I just gave him an unimpressed stare. I poked Ryota to wake him up. "It's about time you got here! You are late, ya jerk!"

I patted Ryota's head, "Um, Kakashi-sensei, maybe we should start our mission... I don't want Sasuke and Naruto to kill each other, so maybe we should distract the two with a mission... Okay?" I said. I could have sworn I heard Ryota mutter, 'Let um kill each other.' Or something like that.

"That's a good idea, Aki! Let's go!"

And at the missions end, Naruto ended up bruised and not looking too good. I had a grumbling Ryota carrying the hurt boy back to the down town of the village.

"You know, if you wouldn't over do this stuff, you wouldn't be in pain right now. And I wouldn't have to carry your stupid self up this hill, ya jerk! You so owe me, orange nincompoop!" Ryota exclaimed furiously at the throbbing boy his back.

I sighed, I could almost tell what was gonna happen next...

"Your such a loser." Sasuke said. Naruto's head snapped up. "THAT DOES IT! SASUKE I'M ABOUT TO-!"

He jumped off of Ryota's back and began to run towards Sasuke. I sighed and held him back.

"Come on, Naruto... I don't want there to be unneeded violence. Please?" I said.

"Hmm... Your teamwork has been almost non-existent lately." Kakashi-sensei said.

"Sensei! That doesn't help the situation!" I said. "YOUR GETTIN ON MY LAST NERVE ORANGEY!" Ryota yelled.

Next thing I knew, Ryota was yelling at Naruto, Naruto was yelling at Sasuke, and Sasuke was saying something but I couldn't hear him due to Ryota's yelling.

'They somehow got on even worse terms than before... I didn't even think that was possible.' I thought. Suddenly, a bird flew above us, and Kakashi-sensei seemed to be watching it warily.

"Okay, that's it. We can call it a day. I've got to go hand in my report on today's mission." Kakashi-sensei said as he read his book. "Then I guess I'll be going home." Sasuke said, about to walk away.

"Oh, I have an idea! How about we go and train together? It will be alot of fun. Sasuke, Naruto, and me of course! How about it?" I said with a smile. Naruto nodded, "Sure, I'll go Aki-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

I looked over at Sasuke. "I train alone..." he said. I gave a small pout. "Well, okay. Take care of yourself, Sasuke!" I said. He gave me a small grunt.

"Hey, Aki-chan! Forget Sasuke, it can just be you and me!" he exclaimed. I smiled, "Hai!"

As we were walking I could feel someone following us. Naruto kept whipping around and looking at it, but the rectangular rock would stop as soon as Naruto would look. I just did my best at looking ahead. "Why are you training with the nincompoop?" Ryota asked. I smiled, "He's my teammate. And you know you enjoy his company!" I said. Ryota grunted and turned away from me childishly.

"PSYCH! FAKED YOU OUT, ROCK! JUST SO YA KNOW, NO ROCK HAS PERFECT ANGLES, PERFECT CORNERS, AND EYE HOLES!" Naruto yelled. I flinched at the sudden loud noise. Three kids crawled out from under the "rock"

"Leave it to my rival to see through this expert disquise," the boy in the middle said. It seemed that all three of them were wearing goggles like Naruto would in the asked him to play ninja with them, but he rejected them saying he had to train.

"Um, its okay if you want to play with them. We can train some other time, I guess I could go find Haku and work on my Ice Release..." I said.

"No, don't worry, Aki-chan we can train, believe it!" Naruto said. "Hey, Boss, who's the babe?" the boy in the middle said. I felt a little embarrased. "I'm Akiko, its a pleasure to meet you!" I said with a sweat drop. Ryota was again, grumbling on my shoulder.

"Hey, Boss, because of how smart and cool you are. Are you and the babe... You knowwww! Right?" the same boy said. 'Were what? Friends?' I thought.

"For little guys, you catch on quick." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head. 'Oh, he must mean friends...' I thought.

"IN YOUR DREAMS, NINCOMPOOP!" Ryota yelled kicking Naruto across the face, sending him flying. "Um, N-n-Naruto? Are you alright?" I asked as Ryota hopped away in the direction of our apartment.

"Boss! You can't die!" the boy exclaimed. He turned around and glared at Ryota. "You stupid little bunny!" he yelled. I gently sat Ryota on the ground. "Um, I suggest we all run in the next 15 seconds..." I said to the three boys and one little girl.

"Why?" the little girl said. I pointed at Ryota. "Stupid? Stupid Bunny? Next thing you know, you'll be calling me cute. And harmless. Just Cute Little Mr. Rabbit. Well you know what, ya jerk? I'LL SHOW YOU HOW SMART AND BEAUTIFUL AND FABULOUS I AM!" Ryota yelled. We all began run away from the demon bunny who was firing small water balls at us.

Then, suddenly, the boy, Konohamaru bumped into a boy with his face painted who was standing with a tough looking blond girl.

"What do you think your doing , Shrimp?" the painted bub said as he picked up Konohamaru by his shirt. "That hurt!" He said.

The blond girl said, "Knock it off. You're gonna get it as it is. Now, your gonna get us both in trouble."

"Um, do you mind putting him down please? I'm very sorry for him bumping into you." I said bowing. He looked down at me, since I was shorter than him. "Well, I guess-"

"PUT HIM DOWN YOU BIG CAT APE!" Naruto yelled. "Naruto... That wasn't very nice..." I said. I saw Ryota who was climbing on my shoulder grumbling. He didn't act guilty at all. "You know what? First, I'm gonna beat up this kid! Then I'm gonna kill the bigger shrimp, and the bunny girl too!" Painted boy said.

I glared. "Please don't threaten my friend... I don't want to have to punish you." I said. The painted boy lifted Konohamaru even higher off the ground. "Oh, what are you gonna do, Bunny girl?" he said.

I gave a smile, "This!" I focused my chakra at his feet, `Freeze... Freeze!' and a block of ice appeared on his feet.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed. The girl next to him was rubbing her temple. I smiled at him, "Now please let him go, okay?" I don't want any unneeded violence!" I said. "You little shrimp! I think I might kill you first!" he said trying to break the ice. He tried to grab me, but I jumped back.

"Let's go, ya goon!" Naruto said, using this time when the painted boy was immobilized to attack him. Suddenly, a rock came out of no where. Or actually, it came from a tree. The boy dropped Konohamaru and grabbed his hand in pain.

"Hi there, Sasuke!" I said waving. "Well, look, another little brat." Paint boy said. "Get lost." Sasuke said to him.

'Oh great, I have a feeling that there will be violence in the next 5 minutes...' I thought to myself.

"Why don't you come down, squirrel? Since you think your so clever..." he said. He took the wrapped up almost human shaped thing off of his back.

"Tell me you're not planning to use the Crow!" the blond girl exclaimed.

Then out of no where, I heard this monotone emotionless voice say, "Kankuro. Don't. You're a disgrace to our village." He was a red headed boy with the kanji for love on his forehead. His glare resembled a snake. I was almost drowning in the killer intent. Even Ryota looked a little bit shakin up, and he was growling.

"G-G-Gaara..." the painted boy, Kankuro, said stuttering.

"You lost control in a quarrel with children. You must have forgotten why we came here." Gaara said.

"But Gaara... They started it! The little one slammed into me!" Kankuro exclaimed.

"Shut up... Or I'll kill you." Gaara said. "You're right! I was out of line. We're sorry... Okay, Gaara?" Kankuro said. Gaara glared at Sasuke, then at me. "Sorry about my teammates." he said. I gave a small smile, while on the inside I was hiding behind Naruto. I melted the ice on Kankuro's feel.

"We didn't come here to play around. Let's go." Gaara said.

'Wait a second...'

"Um, excuse me? I don't mean to interrupt but according to your headbands, you come from Suna. Your country may be one of Konaha's allies, But according to our treaty, your ninja are not permitted to cross the border with our authorization. Just show me your permits ,please, if its not too much trouble." I said.

"Your too nice to people, Commoner." Ryota said to me. I motioned for him to hush. All three of them showed me their travel papers and permits.

"We're here to take the Chunin Exams." she said. "Oh, okay, my brother was telling me that was about to start, well thank you a bunch for cooperating! Have a good day!" I said with a smile. Suddenly, Sasuke appeared right in front of me.

"You! What's your name?" Sasuke asked. The blond girl blushed, "W-Who, me?" she asked.

"No, the creep beside you." he said. "Not very nice, Sasuke..." I said.

"I am Gaara of the Desert." he said. "And you are?" he asked.

"Sasuke Uchiha." he said. "And you?" Gaara said looking at me. "Oh, I am Akiko Yuki! It's a pleasure to meet you, Gaara-san!" I said with a large smile.

"HEY DON'T YOU WANT TO KNOW MY NAME?!" Naruto said loudly. Gaara turned around, "No." Gaara said walking away.

"He's scary..." I said to Ryota. "You should stay away from him. Something about him is evil and just murderous..." Ryota said darkly. I patted his head, "Oh... Okay. I'll do my best, Ryota-sama." I said. I began to walk towards my apartment, "Um, guys, I think I'm gonna go home... I'm not really up to doing anything..." I said waving goodbye to everyone.

* * *

Was that an okay introduction to the Chunin Exams? Really, I'm liking the idea of Aki and Gaara more and more. But I also am thinking ahead to Shippuden Naruto and Shippuden Aki... Hm... I so don't know.

But yeah, sorry for not updating yesterday I was busy! But, I got a new chapter up today that I hope is to your liking. And...

OMG I'M ALMOST AT 50 REVIEWS! OVER 50 FAVORITERS AND OVER 60 FOLLOWERS! You guys are so sweet to me! It makes me wanna change my 'Luvz and Hugz' to 'I MENTALLY GLOMP YOU!'

Lol, but that's me. I'm luvz and hugz. And remember... Don't be a ghost reader

And if you reveiw, I might make an omake about a certain Senpai of a rabbit named Ryota.

"MARI-SENPAI, WHY DON'T YOU NOTICE MEEEE!?"

"Shut it, Ryota."

Anyway, Luvz and Hugz! ^-^


	23. Chapter 23

People need fear to survive. We experience so that we can grow stronger. ~Maka Albarn (Soul Eater)

* * *

Kakashi-sensei wanted us to meet him early. It was terrifying having to get Ryota out of his minature bed, it most definatly wasn't pretty in the slightest. Haku had made me some delicious pickled plum riceballs before he went off to his first day as a Chunin. So the morning wasn't too bad I guess. But I met up with Sasuke and Naruto nice and early with a napping Ryota on my shoulder.

"Good morning, Naruto! Good morning, Sasuke!" I said. I said waving. "Hey, Aki-chan!" Naruto said, while Sasuke grunted in response. A few minutes passed silently until I jump after hearing Naruto yell, "WHY THE HELL DO WE HAVE TO WAIT FOREVER FOR OUR DAMN SENSEI!? THIS IS NOT COOL, BELIEVE IT!"

"Oh come on, Naruto, it could be worse! We could be chasing a cat..." I said, both boys shivered at the thought of the Catch Tora Mission. Suddenly I heard a voice from a building above us. It was none other than Kakashi-sensei.

"Morning guys! I got lost on the path of life..." he said with a one eyed smile. It seemed Ryota chose that exact moment to wake up. "YOUR SO FULL OF IT, YA JERK!" he yelled, one paw waving in the air. "In any case," he suddenly appeared in front of us, "This may surprise you... But I've recommended all three of you for the Chunin Exam." Kakashi-sensei said simply.

My jaw dropped halfway to the ground. We all seemed to have different things to say (or grunt in Sasuke's case).

"You say what now?" -Me

"Good one, Kakashi-sensei, you almost had me!" -Naruto

"IMMA KICK BIRDS OF PREY ASS!" -Ryota

"Hn." -Sasuke

He handed all three of us forms, "You have to fill out applications, so here." Kakashi-sensei, and right then Naruto jumped up and hugged Kakashi-sensei. It was sweet seeing the two doing the thing Haku called, "Male Bonding."

He cleared his throat awkwardly as he stood up straight after Naruto's violent hug. "If any of you don'lt wish to compete, the exam is entirely voluntary, the choise is all yours. You needn't turn those application forms unless you want to. If you do, report to Room 301 at the Academy by 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. Thats all!" he said before disappearing leaving a few leaves.

We were all walking as Naruto was singing about the Chunin Exams.

"I bet there will be really tough competition there. Lee told me normally rookies don't enter, so yeah..." I said trailing off. I was a bit scared. The red headed kid, Gaara, he looked like he wanted to kill me. And he also looked like he could do it easily too.

I was scared. 'I'm just a coward. Just because I'm Akiko doesn't mean I can just leave behind the things that Aki would do.' I felt a wave of confidence. "I-I think I can do this. Yeah, I-I'm gonna do it!" I said to myself.

"Do you enjoy talking to yourself, or were you talking to me?" Ryota asked. "Um, its just I was thinking. It's no big deal Ryota-sama." I said. He looked especially proud of himself with me calling him Ryota-sama.

I Soon found myself at a random Training Ground where Haku seemed to be training. "Onii-san!" I exclaimed running over to him. His eyes widened with surprise, but then closed as he smiled. "Hi there, Akiko. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh, I was just walking. But I have to tell you something! Kakshi-sensei has recommended my team and I for the Chunin Exam!" I said with a smile. His smile faltered. "Are planning on participating?" he asked. I nodded, with a confused look on my face.

"Forgive my lack of enthusiasim, but I met a team from Suna that would be partiipating, and one of the boys was unsettling. I was escorting him and his team to see Hokage-sama, but his killer intent was unsettling." he said. I had a small suspicious on who the team was.

"Was it a boy with a painted face, a girl with blond ponytails, and a scary red headed boy with the knaji for love on his head?" I asked. He nodded.

"I met them. They are scary, but maybe if you get to know them, you never know!" I said. "You don't believe that, do you?" he said. I gave a small guilty grin, "W-W-well maybe deep deep DEEP down and you get to be best best BEST friends, maybe their kind p-p-people!" I said with a smile.

"Akiko, I don't think you should participate in this Exam as a rookie. Your strong, but I'm just worried. But, since I know I won't be able to stop you from entering, we'll have to have a very long training session." he said with a scary smile.

"On-uh-oh! Yay..." despite what you think, Haku is a very hard teacher, especially if he is fearful for the day to come.

The next day, I was sore. I had gotten about 5 hours of sleep when Haku woke me up at dawn to train, more. Though I could proudly say I was efficiant at Haku's Ice Mirror jutsu, that was all I got from it, other than bumps, bruises, a little more speed, and a massive headache.

"Hey, Aki-chan!" Naruto said waving. I gave a small wave, "Good morning, Naruto. You too Sasuke." I said before attempting to muffle a yawn. "Are you okay?" Sasuke asked. I nodded, "Yes, I'm a bit tired from training. But other than that I'm fitter than a filly!" I said with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Akiko Yuki, you did NOT just do that DAMN pose that the Green Sensei does, did you?" Ryota said. "Oh, no! Only Gai-sensei and Lee can do that! Plus, I never winked and made my teeth twinkle!" I said. Sasuke sighed, "Come on, you two idiots. We have to get inside." Sasuke said walking away without me and Ryota.

"Sasuke! That was not very nice at all!" I said. "LEARN SOME RESPECT, YA JERK!" Ryota yelled. As we were walking in, I felt something weird happen. But I decided to ignore when I saw Tenten get kicked across the face. Lee was on the ground with bruises on his face.

"Tenten, Lee!" I said running forward. I easily pushed my way through the crowd.

"You jerks need to just CHILL!" I yelled freezing two jerk's feet. "Hey!" the boys yelled. I went to Tenten and Lee's aid since Neji seemed to be untouched. "Are you okay, guys?!" I said. Tenten laughed, "I'm fine! Don't worry about it, Akiko! You worry too much!" She said.

"Lee, are you okay?" I asked, helping Tenten drag him away from the two mean boys. "I am fine, but Akiko, your a girl?!" he exclaimed. "Not the place or time, because it seems my team is about to get in some trouble." I said standing up with a cold glare on my face.

"And, Akiko, whom you've already met, noticed the genjutsu first. Her being the most analytical and the best on our team at sensing and dispelling genjutsu." Sasuke said looking at me.

"U-Um. Ya, I noticed it. It was a low level genjutsu. Plus, it is a little obvious we are still on the second floor. Anyone with enough time would be able to figure it out..." I said with my soft voice.

One of the boys, looked very irritated as he glared at me. The block of ice on his feet was melted, and he sped towards me, and attempted to kick me. I was prepared to counter attack, or at least try with my less than average taijutsu skill. But Rock Lee was there, and he had seemed to easily caught the boys foot, and Sasuke's foot that was going towards the boy.

"That is not we agreed. You're the one who insisted we should avoid drawing attention to ourselves." Neji said, as he glared slightly in my direction. "B...But..." Lee looked over at me with a blush. "Here we go again..." Tenten said shaking her head.

"Aki-chan. Would you like to go on a date with me? I'll protect you with my life!" he said with the classic Gai-Sensei pose. I began to sweat drop. "Uh, um, I- uh. I c-c- I..." I began to studder, when Sasuke was at my side,

"She is mine." Sasuke said holding my hand. I didn't feel a blush like in the books I've read when this kind of thing happened. I felt creepy and weird, but I tried to ignore that as I began to hear a growl.

"IN YOUR DREAMS, BIRD HEAD!" Ryota said jumping to drop kick Sasuke, but I caught him and stuffed him into my extremely full backpack. As I was struggling with Ryota, I seemed to miss a small conversation. I looked up and Sasuke had his smirk, while Naruto was looking a little gloomy.

"Well, guys we better get moving! We don't want to adopt Kakashi-sensei's habit of being late!" I said lightly pulling along Naruto while motioning Sasuke to hurry up. As we were walking to towards the Application turn in, I heard Lee's voice.

"Hey, you with the scowl. Wait up!" he said. I gave an alerted face, but a small smile towards him. Since he was my friend, even if he did ask me to go on a date.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, not looking impressed at all.

"You and me, here and now... Want to fight?" he asked. I honestly felt fear. Not for Lee, but Sasuke's well being.

* * *

I'm back from my small break! My fingers were super sore and I just had things going on this week. But I'll try to make up for it with a few new chapters this week! I hope you all liked it! And I am kind of wanting to try something, maybe where you guys review questions for Aki or Ryota and maybe I answer them... I don't know.

And I would love for you guys to check out the BakaAndTensaiArt DeviantArt Page. There isn't alot of pictures on it. And there not all the best pictures (At least the ones drawn by me~~Baka) but at least you'd get a feel of what the characters look like through our eyes. And maybe if you left a comment, we could do more. Maybe?

And I got addicted to Kamisama kiss. The show is like Fruits Basket, Black Butler, and Ouran High School Host Club had a baby! Its adorable so the Anime Song of the Day is Kamisama Hajimashita (I think I spelled it right). The show is pretty new, it was dubbed like a month ago, and I'm almost done with the show, sadly. But, at least the Fruits Basket void is gone. For now. But that dang Clannad/Kanon 2006/Anohana Void is still up and running.

Yeah... Sorry for the long Authors Note, but...

**DON'T BE A GHOST READER!**

So leave a review at your leisure...

Maybe a question for our darling Akiko.

Or a rant for our troublesome Ryota.

Or just a simple, "Drill! Did I tell you to start dancing? No I did-fucking-NOT!"

Anyway...

Luvz and Hugz

!


	24. Chapter 24

Lee had beaten both Naruto and Sasuke, though I was expecting that. Lee was a great ninja, possibly because of his supreme "Youthfulness" and it seemed it gave a huge hit to Sasuke's very large pride. Though, before Lee could use his Forbidden move, I saw Gai-sensei's summon, a turtle appear and stopped him.

"Lee, that's enough!" it said. Lee kicked Sasuke away from him and he went flying. I ran and luckily his head ended up falling on my hands unlike the rest of his body that hit the floor roughly.

"Sasuke! Are you all right?!" I exclaimed. He was trembling and silent. "Ah~ The Bird Head's fine, he's just suffering from a major wound to his abundance of pompous pride!" Ryota said. "Ryota, you know that you can't talk about anyone's pride!" I said momentarily not focusing on Sasuke.

"B-But I... I wouldn't have used the forbidden move, I never meant, to..." Lee was trying to find an excuse for his Sensei's summon. Both Sasuke and Naruto looked confused. Naruto ran over to us, Hey, That thing over there's a turtle!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Lee' sensei is Maito Gai, Kakashi-sensei's eternal rival. And his summon is turtles, like Kakahi-sensei's is dogs and mine is rabbits. So the turtle is just a summon." I said and Naruto nodded understandingly. I looked back at Lee who had his head down.

"Well, then... He's all yours, Gai-sensei!" the turtle said. A poof of smoke was seen and Gai-sensei appeared doing one of his famous poses. "Ah, the exuberance of youth! All of you are full of it!" he said with the twinkle smile. Both of the boys on my team looked weirded out, as I smiled and waved, and Ryota sighed obviously annoyed.

"Great... Green Freak Guy." Ryota said bitterly. "Be nice!" I hissed at Ryota.

"He's got the biggest eyebrows eever! They're almost alive!" Naruto exclaimed. "They both even have that same dorky haircut." Sasuke said. Lee began to shake his fist at our team, "Hey don'lt try to make fun of Gai-sensei!"

"OH SHUT UP! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF ALL THE FREAKS WHO KEEP POPPING IN HERE!" Naruto yelled. I began to massage the bridge of my nose, because I remembered, I was in the room with the three loudest people I knew. "

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"

"Lee!" Gai-sensei said.

Lee loked over at Gai-sensei, ""Oh! Uh, yes, sir!" I lookedd away knowing exactly what was going to happen next.

"IDIOT!" Gai-sensei yelled punching Lee across the face.

They began to cry together, "Sensei!", ""That's enough Lee! Not one more word." Gai-sensei said as the two began to hug. "I understand. It's because you're young!" "Sensei!"

"Hey, Aki-chan! Doesn't this give you a warm, fuzzy feeling?" Naruto asked. I nodded as Ryota yelled, "NO WAY, NINCOMPOOP!"

Suddenly, Gai-sensei's attention was brought to us. I smiled at Gai-sensei, "Good afternoon, Gai-sensei!" I said waving. "Wow, Aki-kun, your a girl!? I never would have guessed! How youthful!" he said. He looked at the two other boys on my team. "By the way... How is Kakashi?" he asked.

"You know Kakashi?" Sasuke asked. 'I guess he didn't listen to me say that the two are Eternal Rivals!'

"Do I know him? Heh... Heh..." he appeared behind us, not surprising me or Ryota at all, but it surprised Sasuke and Naruto. "I should say so! We're Eternal Rivals! The score stands at 50 to 49, I'm stronger than he is!" Gai-sensei said with his twinkle smile.

"AS YOU CAN SEE, GAI-SENSEI IS TOTALLY AMAZING!" Lee exclaimed.

"I know Lee started this fight, but take pity on his old teacher, for the sake of my own self-respect, fogive him." Gai-sensei said. He looked over at me, "Good luck, and be careful." he said. I nodded with a smile, "Thanks, and if you see Tenten and Neji before I do, tell them I said good luck to them too!" he said good luck to Lee and jumped quickly away.

"By the way, Sasuke, I was blowing smoke before. I'lm really here to prove my own strength in combat. And I don't think you're the strongest Konoha Genin. The strongest Genin is a member of my team, and I intend to take him down. That'ls why I'm entering. And by the way, you're on my list too." Lee said with a smirk. "Good luck, Aki-chan!" he yelled as he left.

Sasuke's fist clenched. "Sasuke! What was that crap!? Maybe your hot-snot famous Uchiha Clan isn't that gregat after all, huh?" Naruto said rudely. "Naruto! That's not a nice thing to say!" I said to him.

"Shut up, loser... Next time he's dead meat." Sasuke almost growled. "Despite the total butt-kicking you got this time, right?!" Naruto said. "Come on, Naruto! How about we all be nice, okay?" again, I was ignored.

"You saw his hands right? Old Bushy-Brows probably gets some kind of super-duper extra-special training day after day. Even more than you got. Your toast!" Naruto said. Sasuke clenched his fists, "Aw~ Is that wound to your pride hurting?! The Nincompoop having a good excuse to insult you must be like salt and lemon juice on your wound, ya jerk!" Ryota said laughing.

"Not nice, Ryota!" I said. Sasuke gave a small glare to Ryota before glaring in front of him. "Things are starting to get interesting. This Chunin Exam is getting interesting. Naruto. Akiko. Let's go!" Sasuke said. I nodded, "Yeah! Let's do this thing!" I exclaimed.

* * *

**Hello Followers, Favoriters, and others! Thank you so much for helping to get this story to almost 60 Reviews! It's so touching that over 70 people are following this story and over 60 people have favorited it!Every chapter I'm a little afraid that you guys will lose interest, but it seems maybe you won't! **

**And... I want to dedicate this chapter to Microzombie who drew Akiko and posted it on DeviantArt. Check him out (Microzombie01) You go, bro! **

**Now you may want an explanation why I didn't have the Lee vs Sasuke fight. Okay, Iwas just sitting here typing and was listening to Red Like Roses Part 2 from RWBY when I had the urge to listen to Tokyo Teddy Bear. So I went to change songs and when I came back to this tab, it had refreshed and it was gone. Two Hours worth of typing, and I was like, "RQ!" and went ahead and just did what I did. Yeah, dis Baka was mad.**

**So you were stuck with this sucky chapter... I'm sorry and I hope you forgive me!**

**REMEMBER**

**DON'T BE A GHOST READER**

**And leave a review at your leisure**

**It would make a Poofy Headed Baka Very Happy!**

**LOL**

**Luvz and Hugz**

**And Be sure to check out Microzombie (or Microzombie01 on DA)**

**Cause he's awesome.**

**Again**

**Luvz and Hugz**


	25. Chapter 25 Special

**Hey, Baka-chan here and OMG I got more FanArt from an awesome person named ShadowJinxed22 (ShadowJinxed on DA) and it is freaking amazing! I'm actually wanting to make it the new cover! So this *special* chapter is dedicated to Shadowjinxed!**

**This is a Shuffle Chapter. I'll put my Music player on shuffle and what ever song comes on, I'lll write a short story based on it. I'm doing this to get some Writing practice in, and I want to get more into characterization.**

**So this will be all possibly AU, Crack, and this all didn't happen in the original plot line I have partially planned for this Fic. Though, I don't plan anything. Seriously, I'm more of a "Let's Wing It!" Kind of Gal!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter celebrating FanArt, over 10,000 Views, almost 60 reviews, 70 followers, and about 60 Favoriters! Luvz and Hugz ^-^ And welcome to the Randomness!**

* * *

**One Foot - Fun.**

It had been two years since I had lost Haku in our small snowy village. I hadn't gotten any sleep in the past three days. Naruto and Iruka-sensei seemed to begin to worry more and more about me. I had gotten paler and it seemed that I was beginning to look like skin and bones due to malnutrition.

'Onii-san...' I looked down as I threw away my manga and curling up in my small bed. I was so tired, but at the same time, I wasn't. I didn't want to. I would dream of losing Haku, and the villagers from my old village calling me a monster. And condemning me for killing them. And the emotionless look on my cold my dead mothers face. Or the look of sadness on my father's face before I killed him.

My eyes narrowed thinking about my father. The man killed my mother. He tried to kill me and Haku. His own flesh and blood.

I cried, hugging my crude bunny stuffed animal, "Sarah." I heard a knock on my door. I couldn't get my legs to move, I stayed sitting down in my bed curled up in my most likely stinking sheets and covers. That day cameand went and I didn't get a minute of sleep.

I got up barely able to keep myself up. I went to the small kitchen and forced myself to eat an apple. I glanced over at my door and saw a piece of paper on the floor, seemed to come from the other side of the door. I went over and slowly got down and picked it up.

I could tell from the terrible handwriting that it was from Naruto.

_Hey, Aki-kun! It's your next Hokage here and I'm worried. I've came here the past few days to see you but you never answered your door. That's not cool, believe it! And I knew you were here cause I heard crying in there! So it happened again today, and I decided to write this since you wouldn't answer the door! _

_You can tell me whats wrong, if you want. Or in your case, write it, since you don't talk anyway. But since your sad, you wanna know what I do when I'm sad. I eat ramen! But since that isn't your favorite food (I don'lt know why), I think you need to just put one foot in front of the other one. And try your best to get through it!_

_Man this is too much writing, believe it, I don't see how you do this all the time! Anyway, get to the Academy soon, so you can watch me kick Sasuke's ass with my awesome bad assness!_

As I read it almost cried. Though it was written with terrible handwriting, and he seemed to add his verbal tick into his writing, it was beautiful. That seemed to be what I needed to hear.

That day, at nine year I decided what I want to do in the future other than being a strong Shinobi. I'll put one foot in front of the other, since I don't really need a new love or a new life, just give everyone a better place to die.

* * *

**Without Me - Eminem**

**Ryota**

Alright ya jerks, the names Ryota, I'm the son of the Boss Rabbit Summon, Takeshi. And I'm awesome, and it seems some of you guys either love me or hate me. So since I'm a kind god, I'll let ya here a story about me. So listen up, ya jerks! This is why I'm stuck as the Guardian of the Summoner.

There was a Summoner who was crazy as hell named Kazuhiro. He would summon me and we would just drink Sake together because he has the best taste in it ever. And when we got drunk crazy shit would happen. One day I was in my human form since at the time I was powerful enough to henge as a human, and this chick was into me, but Kazuhiro wanted her.

He tried to rape her, and when my Dad came to ask him how I was doing as a Summon, he said I raped her. Yeah that shit head was such a jerk. And I was in so much in trouble. My Dad almost kicked me out of our Clan of Summons, cause he didn't believe me when I said Kazuhiro Yuki.

So instead of kicking me out, he sealed away more than half of my Chakra and sent me to this hell hole and made me observe and watch potential summoners. I never get any credit for anything I do, I found Hikari and I must say I was her favorite rabbit in the whole damn clan.

Yeah, but I was sent back down with Kazuhiro who needed help in a tough battle, I sure as hell didn't help that douche. He was a stupid Commoner who didn't want to lost his precious summons.

ME! The best Summon other than my dad, stuck with little chakra with these jerk of humans. Yeah. I have a damn good reason for being bitter.

But I have a few cousins who I'm still cool with. They all be like, "It's so empty back at home with out you."

Well damn right, I'm Ryota the damn Rabbit God. Of course its gonna empty without me, I'm the best out of those jerks! And don't you forgive it, ya jerk!

Oh and by the way, Shadowjinxed22, I know I'm awesome! I accept you as the president of my official fan club!

Naruto: You don't have a fan club, ya stupid bunny! XD

GET OUT OF HERE YA STUPID ORANGE NINCOMPOOP! KISS MY ASS!

* * *

**Mirror Mirror - RWBY- Casey Lee Williams**

**Haku**

I couldn't find her anywhere. I had ran away in the forest, I was letting my natural instincts take over. But after a few minutes, I realized that I had left my little sister to defend herself. She had probably died trying to protect me. I was so sad, she was dead. Because of my cowardness. Even though she sometimes got a little annoying and we would have our sibling squabbles but she was still my sister.

What I saw when I got home was that the villagers all were impaled by ice spikes. Our father had a spike going right through his heart. I looked around our land, trying to see if there was any signs of her. I then saw more dead people, but they weren't killed with ice spikes. They didn't have many visible wounds, but they were almost frozen but dead, then I looked in the middle of them. I saw Hikari-san, dead with a sword through her chest.

I then began to shed tears, this sweet lady most likely died protecting Akiko, because she treated Akiko like a daughter. Teaching her taijutsu, basic jutsu, and chakra control. She was kind to me too, but not to the extent of how she was to Akiko.

I soon gave up the search and began to walk to a near by city hoping to see her there. But I didn't. And I met a man named Zabuza who helped me. Sometimes we would stay in a hotel, so for a night so we wouldn't have to sleep outside all the time. And when I looked in the mirror, I was Akiko. And tears began to run down my face.

I had eyes like hers, my hair seemed to look similar to the two ponytails that she would wear. I realized how empty and lonely I felt without my other half there. Even with Zabuza, I was happy, but I still felt empty. My heart was warm, yet seemed like a hollow stone. I just felt like I was truly the lonliest of all.

* * *

**Truthfully, I don't really like what I did with Ryota's part. But that is what I get for doing shuffle. LOL, I guess with that song, I just started randomly using a character. Maybe, if you liked this, I'll do it again at 100 followers, or maybe 80 reviews. If I can get that high.**

**But seriously, I really want to thank you all for reading and reviewing and supporting this story so far. It makes me feel really special that you guys spend your precious time reading my story, and reviewing and allowing me to actually PM you and every thing. And the people that totally go beyond my expectations and do FanArt and help me get better with critisism. (BTW thank you to the people who told me about my Format problem in earlier chapters). **

**And you all are really kind special people and I really hope you guys will stick with me in the chapters to come! I may one of these days making up my own filler arc (since I'll get alot of time to do it after Chunin Exams and "stuff" happens). And also I'm planning a new Fic that is a little different from my current Fic that has a girl with a little more hatred and darkness in her.**

**Anywayz, sorry for the sappy stuff... I just had to get that out to you guys. And remember, check out Shadowjinxed on DA, cause she's awesome! And she drew the spitting image of Akiko that I had in my head! Love ya, Shadow-chan!**

**And With That...**

**Leave a Review at your Leisure**

**Check out ShadowJinxed's DA**

**Check out our DA (BakaAndTensaiArt)**

**Don't Trust Snakes with Candy and a White Van**

**And **

**Luvz and Hugz to you all!**

**Don't be a Ghost Reader... Please! ^-^**

**Now for the finale...**

**Luvz and HugZ**

**That was the last one**

**Promise!**


	26. Chapter 26

Why I am I lazy? I just save energy throughout the year so I can pass my exams at the end. Then I have to take the rest of the year until the next exam comes along just to recharge. I call it going green. Yes, the conservation of energy is amazing... ~Me (Baka)

* * *

As we were walking down the hall to Room 301, I got a very angry Ryota out of my bag. He grumbled and yelled, but calmed down partially until we saw Kakashi-sensei.

"I'm glad you came, Akiko-chan. This way you all qualify to apply for the Chūnin Exams," Kakashi-sensei said."Um, what do you mean?" I asked.

"The way the test is set up, it can only be taken by three-person cells." Kakashi-sensei answered.

"Then why the hell did you say it was up to each of us to decide whether or not to apply? Were you lying?!" Naruto asked."I said what I had to keep the rest of the team from pressuring you into coming along. Like, Akiko here, if she had no interest in applying, if Naruto or Sasuke asked her, she would have come along and gone through the motions, though her heart wouldn't have been in it. But, you're all here because you want to be and I'm very proud of you. Now get in there!" Kakashi-sensei said with an assumed smile.

All of us smiled, or smirked in Sasuke's case, and walked into a large room.

"Look out everybody, 'cause here we come!" Naruto said loudly.

"Hell yeah!" Ryota said while munching on a carrot. We walked in and stopped in surprise.

"Wow, this is a lot of people..." I said with my eyes wide.I heard running coming towards our way I looked and saw a purple and yellow flash.

"Sasuke-kun! Where've you been, cutie?!" she said hugging him from behind him. "I could hardly wait! It's so exciting seeing you again after all this time!" she said.

"Oh, hi Ino! It's a pleasure to see you!" I said waving.

"Akiko! You're looking adorable as always!" she said, she looked tempted to let go of Sasuke and come to me, but she kept a hold of him. I saw Chouji and Shikamaru walking over to us.

"Hey, Shikamaru-kun! Hi, Chouji-kun! It's great seeing you guys!" I said with a smile.

"You—" *munch* "—are actually a girl?! I—" *munch munch* "—didn't believe Ino when she told me!" Chouji said in between munching on his chips. Shikamaru looked at me, did a small double take, and then just gave a small wave.

"So are you guys excited about the exam?!" I asked.

"Its such a drag..." Shikamaru said as Chouji just kept munching. Some things never change.

"Hey! There you are!" I heard a voice say. I looked and saw Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. I went straight to the silent Shino.

"It's been a while, Shino-kun! How is your colony doing?" I looked a little surprised at the fact I spoke.

He hid it well, "Their numbers have grown quite significantly. Soon, their numbers may grow to produce yet another colony," he said.

"Wow, that's awesome! Hey, Hinata-chan! How have you been doing?!" I asked practically hopping over to her.

"Uh, I-I have been d-d-doing well. Thank you for a-asking." she said fiddling with her fingers nervously. Hinata and I were quietly talking about our recent achievements when a silver headed boy came over,"Would you guys do us all a favor and just shut up?!"

Right when I heard his voice, a shiver ran down my spine. And I know something is wrong when I, the Ice Release user, feel a shiver.

He continued.

"You three gangs of would-be hotshots are all Genin, right? Kids barely out of the Ninja Academy. All snot-nosed brats! This isn't a field trip you know," he said quite rudely.

"Well who the hell do you think you are, Mr. High and Freaking Mighty!?" Ryota replied angrily.

"The name's Kabuto. So what? You kids need to open your eyes," he said. We turned around and saw the whole room of scary looking ninjas glaring at us. I calmly hid behind Sasuke who gave me a small glare.

"Watch out for the group behind you. They're from Ame, The Village Hidden in the Rain, and they've got very short fuses. Everyone's on edge, waiting to take the exam. I wanted to give you a heads-up before someone snaps and beats the crap out of you," he said.

I tried to think he was trying to help, and he was nice. He was from Konoha anyway, but something about him just creeped me out.

"So, are you saying that this is your second time applying?" Naruto asked.

"No, not second. Seventh. Twice a year for, hmm, going on four years now." he said making me blink in surprise.

"Wow, then you've got a lot of experience with what we can expect!" Ino said out of nowhere.

"Your the man, Kabuto-kun!" Naruto said as if he was genuinely admiring him.

"Cute, okay. The least I can do is give you sweet little babies some vital intelligence on what you're in for with these Shinobi Skill Cards," he said taking out cards and smirking darkly. I didn't know if I was the only one who felt like he shouldn't be trusted.

"I officially don't trust this guy." Ryota mumbled.

"Why?" I whispered to him.

"He has information about our village's shinobi, and most likely has more classified information on those cards too. I'm good at judging of character, believe it or not, ya jerk. He is not to be trusted," Ryota said. I nodded, narrowing my eyes slightly at this pulled out two cards, one with Lee on it, and another with Gaara of the Sand. Just looking at his picture, I could feel the familiar killer intent from him. Soon, Kabuto started to talk about all the Hidden Villages coming, and it seemed Naruto began to shiver.

"N-Naruto? Are you okay?" I asked. I was going to continue when I flinched from the extra loud voice that followed."MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI! AND NONE OF YOU ARE GONNA BEAT ME! YOU GOT THAT?!" Ino appeared next to me.

"Hey, what's his problem?!" she exclaimed. Everyone was glaring harshly at Naruto letting out scary amounts of killer intent.

"Um, I'm v-v-very sorry about him. Please don't be angered by him! Heh, heh..." I said getting in front of Naruto, but I didn't think I was exactly heard.

"YA ORANGE NINCOMPOOP! YOUR GONNA GET MY SUMMONER KILLED, YA JERK!"I then felt a wind go right past me, as I was lightly scolding Naruto. I looked over and saw someone near Kabuto and he looked like he had just dodged and attack. Or so I thought, the glasses he was wearing cracked.

"What's going on!? He dodged the blow, but something broke his glasses," Sasuke exclaimed.

"His nose probably got grazed. Serves him right for acting all superior," Shikamaru said from behind him. Soon, he fell down and began to hurl, I jumped away from him, and it seemed Ryota was done and willingly crawled into my bag. I almost went to him, worried, but I still didn't trust him. But I ended up going to him, too concerned for my own good.

"Are you okay, Kabuto-san?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." As we were worrying about Kabuto, someone crashed into the room.

* * *

"WOULD EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP!?"

Who's totally ready for the Second Exam?! Really? Say that again? Yeah I can't hear you. Technically, I'm just text. But, this text has someone to introduce and thank...Kakashihasnicearms is my new awesome beta! Fun to talk to and I just had to introduce my awesome beta. Now, my legs really hurt from typing on my bed, criss-cross applesauce, for about a few hours. I need to stretch or something.

So the normal Song of the Day, um... Quartet Night from Maji Love 2000% (I believe, it could be from the first season, but no promises) since that is the song that's on right now. (Well, actually now its Guilty Beauty Love from OHSHC).Leave a Review at your leisure, and I may do a new omake next chapter! Luvz and Hugz from your resident Baka!

TT^TT My poor legs!


	27. Chapter 27

A bunch of Konoha ninjas walked in, all looking very strong, tough, and mean. The one that was noticeable was the man in the middle with two scars on his face.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. My name is Ibiki Morino. I'm the Proctor and Chief Examiner for the first part of this exam." he said, he was giving off a small bit of killer intent.

But it was enough to make Ryota growl and have one of his paws on a food pill ready to eat it, if need pointed over at the Sound shinobi.

"You! The kids from the Sound Village! You can't carry on any way you please when the exam's about to start! Or do you want to be disqualified?" One of the Sound ninjas spoke up.

"Sorry, sir... It's our first exam, and we got a little carried away," he said.

Ibiki gave a smirk."Is that so? Then it's about time someone laid down a few ground rules. From this point on, there will be no more fighting without the express permission of the examining office, and even if that permission is granted, anything that endangers another applicant's life is strictly forbidden," He let out more killer intent as he intensified his glare.

"Any of you little piglets who break that rule are out. Disqualified. No second chances. Got that?" he were silent until another Sound ninja spoke up; "So this is a test for little girly men?" the other Chūnin sneered and smirked at him.

I had a feeling that things were not about to go easy and nice like I hoped for. But I wasn't exactly expecting bunnies and dango.

"As you wish, the first part of the Chūnin exam is about to commence. Turn in your written applications; take one of these seating assignment cards and report directly to the seat indicated. When everyone's seated, we'll pass out the written part of the test," Ibiki continued.

It took a few seconds for Naruto to begin to freak out."A-A PAPER TEST!?" I got number 37, and the thing was, I ended up getting the seat right next to a red head with the love kanji on his forehead. My hands trembled as I walked over to the seat right next to him.

"G-Good afternoon, G-Gaara-san! It's a pleasure t-to see you!" I said with a nervous smile."Shut up. Your one of the ones I'm going to kill," he said glaring harshly at me.

Ryota growled."Shut it ya jerk! You ain't gonna kill my Summoner, ya hear me?'' Ryota said.

"I'm sorry Gaara-san, please excuse Ryota. And we better be quiet so I can listen to the rules," I said ignoring the two glares going my way. 'So creepy!'

"I'll write the rules on the blackboard and explain them all. But I'm not taking questions, so listen carefully. I will say this only once.

"Rule number one! Each one of you starts out with ten points. The test has ten questions, each worth one point. For each question you get wrong, we subtract a point from you. Get all ten correct, and you retain the ten points you have. But if, for example you answer three questions incorrectly, we take your ten points and subtract one point for every wrong answer. And your total drops down to seven."

"Rule number 2! This written test is still a team event. Passing or failing will be determined by the sum of the points held by all three members of each cell. The object is for each team to have as few deductions as possible from its joint thirty-point total.

"This next bit is crucial. Rule Number 3! If, during the course of the exam, a candidate cheats, we subtract two points from each member of the cheater's team. In all probability, some of you will run through your entire allowance of points during the test. If so, you'll be failed, and asked to leave," Ibiki said.

One of the proctors spoke up."I'll be looking over your shoulders when you least expect it."Almost everyone in the room tensed when he said that. Excluding Gaara who was glaring at Ibiki and most likely Sasuke.

"Oh, one more thing, if any individual loses all ten of his or her points, that person's entire team, regardless of how the other two members do will be disqualified!" Ibiki added.

"Orange nincompoop..." Ryota mumbled.

"Naruto... I would like to say I know he can do this but... he is not exactly book smart..." I mumbled."Things will work out, Commoner," Ryota said.

"You have one hour... Starting... NOW!"I flipped over the paper and looked. Cryptography... 'No Genin would know this, at least not me...' I thought. I had no idea what the heck it was. I sighed and read number two. I didn't know how to do that test seemed to almost force you to cheat since these questions were all above our level. I began to pull my short hair.

'Think'

'Think'

'THINK!'

I had to try to look underneath the underneath like Kakashi-sensei said many times before. My head snapped up in realizations. Ibiki never said that we couldn't cheat. He said we couldn't be caught cheating. This wasn't a simple test of Academics.

This was a test for our information gathering most likely had actual Chūnin posing as Genin to cheat off of.

I wrote on the paper, 'Ryota? Can you see what Gaara or the boy next to me is writing?' Ryota gave a small grunt as he climbed on top of my head. He looked at the one guy on the other side of me and muttered:"Idiot." Ryota looked over at Gaara's paper and he whispered, ever so quietly in my ear the all the answers on the test other than the tenth question.

People soon began to be sent out. And soon I felt a zap inside of me. Someone's soul was trying to take over me. I began to fight it.

"Relax, Aki-chan. It's just me. I'm sorry, but do you mind if I get some answers off of you?" Ino's voice asked in my head.

"Go ahead, Ino-chan, but can you help out Naruto too, since he looks a bit defeated," I asked in my head.

"Sure! Thanks!" Ino proceeded to copy. She fully took me over, though I could see everything she was doing, most likely because she was letting me. Soon, she left me and I saw Shikamaru, Chouji, and Naruto jerk slightly at different times, but they all quickly wrote down answers on all of their tests.

Soon, it was 45 minutes into the test, and it was time for the tenth question."Since we weeded out the worst of slackers, let's move on to the most important question! Get ready," Ibiki said. I clenched my fists; I was scared but ready for the final question.

"And before we get to the question itself. I'm adding one more new rule," he paused when the boy, Kankuro came in."Heh, looks like you're in luck. The time you spent playing with dolls wasn't completely wasted. Don't worry about it, just sit down," Ibiki said.

Kankuro went to his seat and sat down."This rule is absolute. First you must choose whether to accept or reject this tenth question!" Ibiki stated.

I gulped, 'Gosh, I knew this wasn't going to end well...' I thought to myself.

"Choose?! What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?!" The Suna girl, Temari exclaimed.

"If you reject the question and don't even try to answer it, you'll lost all your points immediately and fail! And both of your teammates will fail right along with you," Ibiki answered.

People began to ask why would anyone choose to reject the question.

"Because of the other rule. If you try to answer the question and you get it wrong, you will never be permitted to apply for the Chūnin Exams Again. Not. Ever."

I gasped. 'Oh Kami-sama. Oh Kami-sama. Oh Kami-sama. No... Me. Not. A Genin FOREVER?! No. I can't!' I thought shivering.

"Stop shaking, Commoner! You'll be fine," Ryota said.

"I've been up front with you. You can take a failing grade now, and try again later. Anyone who has doubts would be smart to reject the tenth question now. Come back and reapply next year," Ibiki said.

"Ready? Let's begin. Those who choose not to accept should raise their hands. Once their number has been confirmed, they will leave the room," he said.

The room got more silent. I swore I could hear everyone's nervous heartbeats.

'If I raise my hand, Sasuke and Naruto will fail too. And they might get mad at me. But if I get this wrong, we'll all fail and be Genin for the rest of our careers. I don't know, I don't know!' People were getting up left and right.

'If I get this wrong, Naruto he wouldn't achieve his dream of being Hokage. And Haku would be disappointed with me. And Sasuke, he wouldn't get the power he seeks. I have to do it for the good of the team. Maybe next year...' I was about my hand when Naruto raised his own hand. But he slammed it down.

"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE ME! I DON'T QUIT, AND I WON'T RUN! I'LL ACCEPT YOUR STUPID QUESTION! EVEN IF I RISK ENDING UP A GENIN FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! I'LL STILL BECOME HOKAGE EVEN IF I ONLY MAKE BY PURE STUBBORNNESS, I DON'T CARE! I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!" He yelled.

He sat down and snorted. I could hear Ryota on my shoulder mumble something that sounded like: "Way to go kid." I smiled; I had a wave of confidence. 'Thank you, Naruto.'

"I'll ask you one last time. This is a decision that could affect the rest of your life. Quit now while you still have the chance," Ibiki said.

"I never go back on my word, believe it! Because that's my Shinobi way!" Naruto replied.

"Hm. Good call. So everyone who is still here...YOU'VE JUST PASSED THE FIRST EXAM!" Ibiki stated.

* * *

In my opinion, this is a good place to end this chapter! I went out last night, got some Naruto Manga (two 3-in-one volumes), The Official Character Data Book for Naruto (which is awesome!) and the first volume of the Higurashi (or its unfortunate English name When They Cry). I wanted to get Kamisama Kiss, but nope. I had a limit. So, maybe next time...

So, in honor of my first Higurashi manga, Main Theme from Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni is the Anime Song of the Day! And I made the mistake of watching the whole Story of Evil Vocaloid songs at one time. I'm so depressed, amazed, but depressed. My favorite song is most definatly The Servant of Evil, it was amazing!

So, the usual stuff!

Leave a Review at your Leisure!

Don't be a Ghost Reader(BTW a Ghost Reader is a Reader Who doesn't Review)

Have a Great Day!

Luvz and Hugz

From your resident Baka!

Beta Note: Sorry for being so late! I hope you enjoyed as both Baka and I did! ^^


	28. Chapter 28

If I wore a tie, it wouldn't change who I am. If I had no piercings, it wouldn't mean I'm nice. And if my hair was black it wouldn't stop me from kicking your ass! – Hatsuharu Sohma

* * *

"You've just passed the first exam," he said with a small smile. We all gasped.

"When the hell did this happen? What about that tenth question!?" Ryota asked.

"There is no tenth question. Beyond the whole 'Accept or Reject' thing," Ibiki gave a grin.I was utterly confused.

"Hey! Then why did we have to suffer through the other nine questions?! That was a total waste of our time!" Temari yelled.

"There was no waste. Those questions had a purpose, which they've already served," he said.

"Such as?" Temari asked, then sitting down.

"Our goal was to test your skills at spying," Ibiki said with another smile. He seemed like a completely different and nicer person at this point. Though, I wouldn't want to get on his bad side, that's for sure.

"Remember the rules at the beginning? You pass or fail as part of a three-man cell. With that rule, I pressured you with the fear that anything you did wrong would bring your teammates down with you. However, the questions are beyond the level that Genin could be expected to handle. So most of you having reached that same conclusion had only one way of retaining your points: by cheating," Ibiki said.

I nodded in understanding.

"And to ensure there would be suitable targets for you to cheat from, we snuck in a pair of Chūnin who already knew the answers," Ibiki said. The boy sitting next to me smirked, I did an inner, 'YES!' I had cheated off the right person.

"Thanks Ryota!" I said.

"It's Ryota-sama to you! And yeah I did all the work so I expect a certain orange and green vegetable when this is over with," Ryota said on my shoulder. I grinnned at him.

"HA HA HA! Yeah! It was so obvious! ANY IDIOT COULD TELL!" Naruto yelled. I facepalmed, 'Oh Naruto...'

"That orange nincompoop had no idea. Not. At. All," Ryota mumbled.

"Of course, anyone who cheated in a clumsy way failed," Ibiki said. He began to take off his forehead protector and everyone instantly gasped as he revealed burn scars and punctures from where screws were used.

"Because there may be circumstances where being caught in espionage can cost you more than just your life. You may have to pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, time and time again, when many lives hang in the balance," he said.

"Oh w-what a poor guy," I muttered. Gaara looked over at me before going back to ignoring me. I sweat dropped, "H-heh," giving a small laugh, nervously.

"The information you obtain can't be trusted if you can't keep your presence from the enemy. Learn that and learn it well. If you bring back intelligence from a suspect source or a compromised operation, you're doing your enemies work for them, putting those you serve in danger. That is why we maneuvered you into using your espionage skills to cheat. It was the quickest way of weeding out the students whose skills aren't yet up to snuff," Ibiki said.

"Okay, but what was the deal with the tenth question?" Temari asked. Ibiki had put his forehead protector back on and grinned.

"Ah, the tenth question was the first real test on the exam." he said.

"Huh?" I said aloud.

"Let me explain. The tenth question was a choice between two options that were both difficult and dangerous. Those who chose to reject were failed and failed their friends as well. Those who chose to accept and couldn't answer the question lost any chance of ever even trying again. It was a nasty, unfair no-win set of options," Ibiki explained.

Faces still shone hints of confusion. He explained further:"So why did I present them? Let's suppose you all go on to successfully attain the rank of Chūnin. You are assigned to steal a vital enemy document knowing nothing about the skills, deployment, or military preparedness of your foe. You may have to cross a territory that has been heavily mined and set with traps. Now... do you accept your mission? Or do you reject it rather than place your own life or lives of your companions in jeopardy? Could any Chūnin get away with only taking on the safe jobs? Of course not!"

"No matter how dangerous the risk, there will be missions that you cannot decline. A ninja must demonstrate valor that inspires those around him helping all to overcome their fear. This is the talent that we most value in the commander of a Chūnin team! Gamble with their own fate who would trade today's certain risk for tomorrow's uncertain future, never taking the chance that lies before them are weaklings who make only weak and easy decisions. In my opinion, they don't belong in the ranks of Chūnin at all!"

"By choosing to accept you answered the almost unsolvable tenth question correctly. If you keep that spirit you can probably conquer all of the many doubts and difficulties you'll face in your careers as ninjas. You've passed the first hurdle. Part one of the Chūnin exam is concluded. I'll pray you fight the good fight!"

"Yeah! You do that! Go pray!" Naruto exclaimed. I smiled at my blond friend. Though not the smartest person, or strongest, he most definitely had what it took to become Chūnin, that's for sure, I heard a crash; someone was coming inside. I had my kunai in my hand, ready to attack, but it was a Konoha kunoichi who had a banner behind her stating that she was the Second Chief Examination Officer of the exam.

"None of you are in any position to celebrate. I am the second chief examination officer, Mitarashi Anko! Time's a-wastin' people. Let's go! FOLLOW ME!"

"Wow, an older, girl version of Naruto that looks less nincompoop-ish." Ryota said.

"Seventy-eight of you are still here?! Ibiki! You passed twenty-six teams?! Obviously you went WAY too easy on them!" Anko said looking at Ibiki.

"This year, we have applicants of exceptional caliber," Ibiki countered.

"Yeah, right. I'll cut down this number by half before the next test is done," she said.

I tensed just thinking about us being cut out. And Haku trying to train the heck out of me to get me stronger.

"Ooh! I get charged up just thinking about it! I'll explain things in detail as soon as we move to our next location so follow me!"

She brought us to a large forest with a big gate around it."This is the arena for the second exam: Training Ground 44. Also known as the FOREST OF DEATH!" she said.

"T-This place is reeeeally freaky! And t-that name! M-man! This won't be nice at all..." I said stuttering like mad.

"You're about to find out firsthand why they call this the 'Forest Of Death'!" she said threateningly.

"Oh man..."

"Stop shaking, commoner!"

"OOH, YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT FIRST HAND WHY THEY CALL THIS THE 'FOREST OF DEATH'! LIKE THAT'S REALLY GONNA SCARE US! YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO PSYCH US OUT, AND I'M NOT GONNA FALL FOR IT!" Naruto yelled.

'This won't end well...'

"Your such a nincompoop!" Ryota exclaimed.

"Oh, really? Your pretty cocky, huh?" she said grinning. She quickly threw a kunai at Naruto that scratched the side of his face. In an instant she was right behind Naruto licking the blood off his cheek.

Suddenly, a creepy person from the Grass Village was behind her and she had another kunai in her hand. The person had her kunai wrapped around his long tongue.

"Your kunai, I believe you dropped it," the Grass ninja informed Anko.

"Gee... Thanks."

She took her kunai and glared at him.

"Don't stand behind me radiating killer intent, unless you're in a hurry to die," she said.

"I'll try to keep it under control but the sight of warm, fresh blood makes me crazy, and I was already revved up from losing a strand of my precious hair." she said.

"Ryota..."

"This is not good. We have a maniac proctoring this exam. Then we have plenty of maniac people to watch out for. Gaara. Tongue Freak Jerk. This will be at least interesting," Ryota said.

"Uh... Y-Yeah..." I said with a nervous smile.

"Sorry about that. Looks like we have a hot-blooded team on our hands this time out. Heh, should be fun. Anyway, before we begin the second exam there's something I have to hand out," she took out a consent form.

"They're just consent forms that everyone has to sign. We want all the details covered before the first deaths occur! Sign before you go in so we can't be held liable. You wouldn't want me to get in trouble, would you?" she said as she laughed.

"First, I'll explain the second exam entails. First sign in with the other two members of your team, bring the forms to the hut behind you and submit them. Got that? Now, about the exam. To put it simply, it's a no-holds-barred survival test," she said.

'Oh, great... That was what I sucked at the most in Survival training at the Academy. I can't even make a fire!' I thought.

"Let's start with the topography of this training ground. I'll explain the rest later," when she said that and held out a map, I had an idea.

"Psst, Sasuke! Can you use your Sharingan and memorize that map? We may need it," I whispered to him. He nodded and his eyes turned red as he stared at the map.

"This is a fight to the death version of 'Capture the Flag' or, in this case, capture the scroll," she said.

"There's a 'Scroll of Heaven' and a 'Scroll of Earth' and your objective is to acquire both scrolls. There are seventy-eight of you here. That's twenty-six three-member teams. Half of you will start out with a Heaven Scroll, and the other thirteen will start with an Earth Scroll, but you'll need both scrolls to pass. So your objective is to hold on to your own scroll, get your hands on one of the other kind, and bring them both to the Tower at the Center."

"There is a time limit, you have 120 days to complete this exam, exactly five days!" she informed.

"Five days!?"

"What are we suposed to do for food?!" someone who I could tell was Chouji said.

"That's your problem. The forests are full of nature's bounty. Of course they're also full of man-eating animals, deadly insects, and poisonous plants. As the time shortens, the trials will come harder and faster with less recovery time for any mistakes, accidents, or injuries. You'll be surrounded by enemies at all times, so you'll have to sleep with one eye open."

"So, in addition to those who die in attempts to defend or capture a scroll some of you are bound to succumb to exhaustion, exposure, starvation, and dehydration. Now let's talk about the rules and what offenses you can be disqualified for! Obviously, the teams that fail to reach the tower in time as a three-member cell carrying both a Heaven and an Earth Scroll are out. So is any team that loses a member, whether to death or to severe injury. And under no circumstances can you leave the forest before the time is up. No recess. No time outs."

"Also, you're forbidden to look at the contents of the scrolls until you're inside the tower!" Anko said.

"What if we snuck a peek?" Naruto asked.

"That's for those who look to know! If any of you make it to Chūnin level, there will be times when you'll be entrusted with top-secret documents, so consider this a test of your trustworthiness. That's all the explanation you get. We'll trade one scroll for every three forms. When you've got yours, choose the gate you want to start from and everyone will begin at the same time. One final piece of advice... Stay alive!"

* * *

**There! All done, Beta got it checked and its ready to be posted! I hope you enjoyed enough to leave a review! Don't be Ghost Readers... So um, Anime Song of the Day... I don't know I'll just go Vocaloid cause they is awesome! Song of the Day, Alice Human Sacrifice cause why not?! Ya know? Anyway, kind of a school night, extra tired. Night!**


	29. Chapter 29

No matter what changes, I'lll still be me. And I can be whoever I want to be. ~Hinamori Amu (Shugo Chara!)

Yes, I'm the nice twin, but this conversation bores me. Go play in traffic, please ~Hitachiin Hikaru (OHSHC)

There's no such thing as useless effort. ~~Kagami Taiga (Kuroko no Basket)

* * *

Right when the gates were opened, we sped into the forest, I was praying that we wouldn't run into any Genin. And when we finally stopped, I heard a scream.

"Heh, heh... Am I the ooooonly one who heard that frightening suspicious scream?" I asked.

"Its about a kilometer to the east, so we should move quickly." Ryota said.

"Well, can we start moving after I take a leak? I seriously gotta go." Naruto said.

I immediatly stiffened and covered my eyes.

"Loser, Akiko's a girl. Use the bushes, we can't afford to be ambushed while Akiko is covering her eyes." Sasuke said.

"Damn you, Sasuke!" Naruto said stomping away.

"Ryota, go with him so he doesn't get ambushed, kay?" I asked.

"This sucks!" Ryota exclaimed, grumblings as he quickly hopped after Naruto.

Soon, Naruto came back. But, I saw Ryota wasn't with him, and the scratch of his was gone.

"Oh, man! What a relief! Feelin' good now!" He said.

I had kunai that I was prepared to reverse throw at the imposter, but Sasuke beat me to it when he sped forward and punched him, sending him flying.

"Hey! Wh-what was that for?!" he asked.

"What have you done with Naruto?!" Sasuke asked.

"Hello, I'm right in front of you bleeding!" he exclaimed.

"You're wearing your shuriken throwing stars on your left thigh. Naruto is right-handed." Sasuke said.

"And you forgot the cut that the real Naruto got from the Proctor just before the exam!" I added.

"You're even worse at disguise spells than the real Naruto." Sasuke said.

A pop noise was made and it revealed a Hidden Rain Village Genin.

"Since you've forced me to come clean, why don't you do the same?! Which one of you has the scroll?!" he said.

I did a few handsigns, "I got this guy, Sasuke!" I exclaimed.

The Genin sped towards me, I gave a smirk. "Ice Release: Ice Prison Technique!" Ice began to come out of the ground, and it trapped the Rain Nin freezing him.

Sasuke looked a little disappointed that he didn't get his battle.

"Maybe next time, Sasuke... Maybe next time." I said patting his back.

Naruto and Ryota came back, and we sat down in a circle, triangle thing.

"Remember this. If we get seperated again, we can't trust each other blindly! It could end up going much worse than this did!" Sasuke said.

"Well what do you suggest we do, High-and-Freaking-Mighty?" Ryota said.

Sasuke gave the rabbit an irritated glare.

"We can use a secret password. That way, we'll know. No matter who they look like or how they sound, if one of us get's it wrong, then they're an enemy! Listen very carefully, I'll say it only once! Its called the 'Ninki'. When I ask for it, Here's what you will say."

"We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide, quiet Shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is it to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate." Naruto was silent, and the wheels were turning in my own head.

"Em, I don't if I can exactly remember that, but I'll do my best!" I said.

"I got, stupid commoner." Ryota said.

"Well how do you expect me to remember that?! Can we just go with swordfish!?" Naruto said, but was ignored.

"I'll take the scroll," Sasuke said.

"Okay, Sasuke," I said nodding. Suddenly, a huge wind came, I got up and tried to fight it. But I still flew back with Ryota in my arms. I quickly got up, and looked for my teammates. I saw Sasuke, and I quickly threw a food pill up for Ryota who hopped and ate it.

I glared at him, "Sasuke!" I said. He looked over at me, "Akiko, what's the password?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." I said. "We say it at the same time, because I'm not one to just blindly trust!" I said. He nodded.

"We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. We don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate." Sasuke, Ryota, and I all said at the same time.

My gaze softened, "Sorry about that, Sasuke! I just needed to be sure you were yourself." I said.

"Hn." he said.

Then, from behind a tree Naruto walked towards us, with a grin. I looked at Ryota who was glaring harshly at "Naruto".

"You guys all right?" Naruto asked.

"Not so fast, Naruto! The password." Sasuke said.

"Yeah, the Ninki! We thrive in the chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet Shinobi don't need dens to hise. Our only oncern is to watch and wait until the enemy lowers the gate." Naruto said.

Sasuke immediatly threw a kunai at him. Naruto doged, and I knew that he was not Naruto.

"He's good enough to deflect my attack!" Sasuke said.

"There's something not right about this guy!" Ryota exclaimed.

The fake Naruto gave an evil smirk.

"Well done, what gave me away?" the creepy person asked.

"I knew you were underground, eavesdropping on everything we said. That's why I chose that kind of password. The kind the real Naruto would never manage to memorize." Sasuke said.

"I see.. Watch and wait, eh? This is going to be more fun than I thought!"

* * *

Wow, been a while! I'm back and I have more time to update (hopefully). And did you guys notice the new cover? Its one of the awesome fan art pieces that I have gotten! I just have to brag a little more about the awesome ShadowJinxed22! I have been saying I was gonna put it up, but I finally did it! ^^

Anyway, Anime song of the Day is, Pre-Parade from Toradora! Am I the only one who had to rewatch it because the dub PV came out, and because its awesome!? I'm so excited. And the fact at the last convention I went to, I got to meet Cassandra Lee who is playing Taiga! Rawr, OMG! I can't wait!

Anyway, sorry about the wait, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	30. Chapter 30

Those who rely on "someday" will only grow weaker and lowlier. ~Shana (Shakugan no Shana)

If you don't want to die, think. ~~Rivaille (Shingeki no Kyojin)

Victory isn't determined soley by who has the superior physical abilities. ~Tsumugu Kinagase (Kill la Kill)

* * *

I glared at the creepy man with the long tongue.

'Where is Naruto anyway? I could so use him and Ryota right now...' I thought to myself.

"I suppose you'd like to steal our Earth Scroll, wouldn't you? Since you already have a Heaven Scroll," he said, and then he ate the entire scroll.

I gasped at the fact he ate the whole thing, I almost thought it was a genjutsu."Now we shall see just who will be stealing scrolls from whom. We'll fight to the death!" he said with a dark, frightening voice.

'Did he say, fight to the death!?' I thought as I instantly began to breathe harder.

Suddenly, as fast as light, two kunai came flying towards Sasuke and I. It hit us both in the foreheads, then my chakra and the air seemed to pulse, as we got out of the genjutsu.

I fell to my knees, threatening to throw up. Sasuke was almost right behind me as I threw up. I was shaking as I tried my hardest to move my body, but I couldn't.

"Akiko..." Sasuke said. He seemed to be trying to move as well.'You need to move, Akiko...' I thought to myself. I had to attempt to stand, or this enemy would possibly try to attack me next.

Suddenly, the man got a cruel smirk on his face as he threw kunai right at me. Sasuke moved quickly and got me out of the way as he stared at me with the Sharingan in his eyes. I looked at his thigh, and saw he had stabbed himself.

"Sasuke! Are you okay?!" I whispered as tears ran down my ripped out the kunai that was in his leg out.

"Uunh... I'm *huff* fine..." he said quietly."We need to make a plan to evade him," Sasuke said. I noticed that there was a large snake above us.

I quickly focused my chakra in the Hare hand-seal."Certain-Kill Ice Spears!" I said piercing the snake's head.

Sasuke gasped, he must not have noticed the large snake creeping in on us.

"You are making this chase a little more fun and rewarding for the predator!" the man said coming out of the snake. He begins to slither up the tree when shuriken and kunai are thrown at him. I look over and see that none other than Naruto was standing there with a smirk.

"Sorry Sasuke, I can't remember that stupid password!" he said.

"Naruto!" I exclaimed.

"Hey, Commoner! Did you forget something?!" I heard Ryota's voice yell.

Ryota quickly jumped down gracefully and landed on my shoulder.

"NARUTO, NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! THIS GUY IS WAY OUT OF OUR LEAGUE!" Sasuke yelled.

But it seemed he was ignored by the talking of the man.

"Heh heh... My compliments on your stunning defeat of the giant snake, Naruto," he said.

"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size!? Or something like that..."

I looked over at Sasuke who seemed to turn off his Sharingan."If it's our scroll you want, come and get it! Just take it and go!" Sasuke said.

"Woah, Bird Jerk..." Ryota muttered.

"SASUKE! WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! IS THIS SOME CLEVER WAY OF BEATING THE ENEMY?! BY HANDING OVER EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT?!" Naruto yelled at him.

"Well done, Sasuke, you're obviously natural born prey. Instinctively knowing that your only hope lies in the chance of the predator being distracted by some tastier bait!" the snake man said.

Sasuke threw our scroll at him, but Naruto quickly caught it.

"Stay out of this! You'll ruin everything!" Sasuke yelled, then Naruto did the unexpected. He punched him.

Sasuke went flying."What do you think you're doing?!" He yelled as he got up.

"Naruto!" I exclaimed.

"I forgot the stupid password so I can't prove it, but this so-called Sasuke is obviously a fake!" Naruto yelled.

"But Naruto-"

"Naruto, you loser! I'm me!" Sasuke yelled interrupting me.

"That's bull! AND YOU'RE THE LOSER, LOSER! YOU'RE A COWARD, WHICH SASUKE ISN'T! SO YOU'RE NOT HIM! I'm not so sure we need to be afraid of this guy and even if we did hand over the scroll... There's no guarantee he'd spare us! So, even if you were Sasuke, I'd still be telling you you're an idiot. And maybe a chicked too!" Naruto said.

And the thing that scared me was, that it was the truth.

"Oh, Naruto! This is rich! And, you're absolutely right," the Snake man said. My head whipped over to him. He continued: "Why bargain when I could just kill you and take the scroll?" he said.

I was frozen with fear; I didn't know what I could do. I felt useless, as the others were showing their strength when it truly mattered while I was frozen with fear.

Sorry for the short chapter but I have to get up early tomorrow, so I don't know. I'll let my amazing beta do the Anime Song of the day and author's notes, if she wants to do it ^^ Luvz and Hugz!

Beta A/N:(Yoroshiku onegaishimasu! *Rei...) (Nice to meet you/I'm going to be relying on you/I hope to be on good terms with you etc... *Bow)

Hello there! It's BakaAndTensaiProductionz's Beta! I'm Kakashihasnicearms (although you might already know that XD), and I'll do the Anime Song of the Day. So, today's song is Tooki Kimi e from Ikoku Meiro no Croisée. It's a pretty good Slice of Life may have noticed that last chapter wasn't beta'd. That was because DocX wasn't working or something, but now it's all fixed! ^^ (Arigatou gozaimashita! *Rei...) (Thank you very much! *Bow...)


	31. Chapter 31

You can't talk of the dangers of snake poisoning and not mention snakes. ~C. Everett Koop

* * *

"Why bargain when I can simply kill you and take the scroll?" he said as he bit his finger and he put his blood on his arm. Naruto immediately turned around, growling at him and yelled: "SHUT UP!"

An enormous snake was beginning to appear, Naruto was ignoring Sasuke's yell to stop."Summoning Jutsu!" the Snake man said. The snake struck and went right towards Naruto.

"Naryuto!" He was falling, 'I have to do something...'

But suddenly, Naruto snapped, and he punched the large snake that went towards Sasuke, but Naruto got in the way and stopped it before it could hit him.

'Legs...'

'Move!'

'It might be time.'

'To use my new jutsu.'

'I have to help my friends.'

Smaller snakes wrapped around Naruto."HEY! GET OFF ME!" he was brought closer to him, and he slammed his hand into Naruto's stomach area.

'That.'

'Is.'

'Enough!'

"Dog, Dragon, Monkey, Snake, Hare! ICE RELEASE: ARCTIC WIND!" I quickly did the hand signs.A freezing cold air that could freeze anything it touches blew towards the Snake man. He dropped Naruto and looked over at me.

I used the reverse weaponry technique to throw a kunai that went threw the back of Naruto's jumpsuit and held him up against a tree."So, we have another troublesome one..." he said.

I glared at him and threw up another food pill in the jumped and ate it growing as tall as me."Ha, Let's get him!" Ryota yelled.

I made the tiger sign. "You know what to do, Ryota!"

"Water Release: Double Gunshot!" we both both shot balls of water out of our mouths that came together and made one huge went right towards the man, but he dodged it."You should keep your guard up!" he said with a cruel smirk. I turned around and saw a snake way larger than Ryota come up behind Ryota, and had his mouth open.

"RYOTA!" I screamed. He turned around, but it was too had been eaten whole, in one bite.

"NO!" I cried as I got on my knees. I glared at him.'This jerk...' I tried to get up, I froze. I couldn't move."Paralysis Jutsu," he said with a cruel look and had two senbon in his hand.

'No.'

'He's gonna kill me.'

'I failed Ryota.'

'I failed Naruto.'

'I failed Sasuke.'

'I failed Kakashi-sensei.'

'And worse of all, I failed Haku.'

I murmured, right as he threw the senbon at me:

"I'm sorry."

Then, all I could see was black.

* * *

I'm so sorry. It felt like I had to stop there, and I'm wanting to work on an upcoming side story for this FanFiction. I'm planning on doing the First Naruto movie, Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow. There may be flashbacks, and cold icyness galore! Plus, that movie was freaking awesome!

And, I'm doing it from the Ani-Manga, because I'm too lazy to do it from the movie, since that would take forever! So, yeah, that's the reason for the short chapters, and I need a wee bit of suspence!

And I would really appreciate it if you guys would review a little. Please? Just a few words can help and motivate the author alot!

So stop being Ghost Readers! Kay? I love you all!Luvz and Hugz from Baka-chan

Akiko: Me too! Since you guys are very kind people!

Ryota: Yes, I approve of you Above Average Commoners!

Baka-chan: Whoa, Ryota, aren't you supposed to be eaten or something?

Ryota: o.o

Akiko: TT-TT

Baka-chan: Oh man, I feel bad now...

Ryota Lovers: WE THROW CARROTS AND LEGOS AT YOU!

Until next time,

Luvz and Hugz! ^-^


	32. Chapter 32

Game over. If that's the case, I just have to play again. ~Megumi Yamamoto (Special A)

* * *

I woke up shortly after I was put under that paralysis jutsu.

I woke up to hear screaming. I opened my eyes and saw the source of the bloodcurdling scream was Sasuke.

I quickly jumped down, without thinking that the enemy could have still been down there. But he was gone.

"S-Sasuke!? Are you okay?! Where does it hurt?" I said with tears threatening to run down my face.

"Shoulder!" he yelled. I looked at his shoulder and noticed a strange mark. It had three commas and looked similar to the Sharingan.

'What a weird mark. ' I thought.

I put my hand on it, it was pulsing.

'He must have put chakra in Sasuke or something! What do I do?' I thought.

I didn't know any medical ninjutsu.

I didn't even know how to make my own paper bombs using seals.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. This may hurt, but this all that I can think of to do." I whispered.

I focused my chakra in my hand. A thin layer of ice covered the mark.

"That should stop the throbbing, and if I'm lucky, it also froze the man's chakra." I said to the already unconscious Sasuke.

I looked at his face that was in a grimace. Naruto was still hanging from a tree. And Ryota was nowhere to be seen.

'Damn it.'

'DAMN IT!'

"DAMN IT! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO BEING STRONGEST WHEN YOUR PROTECTING YOUR PRECIOUS PEOPLE!? GODDAMN IT! I'M USELESS! I COULDN'T EVEN PROTECT MY TEAM, OR MY SUMMON!" I screamed, letting the tears run out of my eyes like a faucet.

"You know, Commoner, you'll alert the entire forest where you are if you keep this up," a familiar voice said from behind me.

I head whipped around, "Ryota!" I exclaimed at the small, slimy, but recognizable, rabbit.

"In the flesh," he commented.

I ran and picked him up.

"Thank you! Thank you for not dying!" I exclaimed.

"You have no faith in the great Kami-sama, ME! You should know that some species of snakes get very sick and die if they eat rabbits. That jerk had nothing on me! Plus, he wouldn't be able to handle the full blown shit storm that would come with digesting me," Ryota said.

I gave a small chuckle at what he said.

"And he had the nerve to call me a little bunny. Like a little kid! Psh, PUT THAT IN YOUR JUICE BOX AND SUCK IT!" Ryota yelled.

I gave a small laugh, "Hahaha, um, Ryota?" I said.

"Hm?"

"How much chakra do you have left?" I asked.

"Enough. What do you want me to do?" he said.

"I was wondering if you could eat a food pill and help me get Naruto down. And help me get Naruto and Sasuke to safety."" I said.

"No problem. Just leave it to me. After you throw the food pill of course," he said. I gave him a small smile, I threw up the food pill and he, once again, gracefully caught it. Turning into the big Ryota, hejumped up and grabbed Naruto by the back of his jumpsuit, giving it a small rip in the came down and I gently got Naruto and Sasuke on his back.

"Okay, so where do you consider safe?" he asked.

"Well, my first thought is the water. It is where I am most powerful. But I suspect many people will be there, whether to ambush or to drink. So, sadly, I have to cross that off. Then I could say near the middle of the Forest of Death because there is a possibility that there are medic-nin Genin and I could force them to help Naruto and Sasuke. But me as a human being, doesn't like that idea. So I say a wide tree. I could sit on one side with Naruto and Sasuke behind me. Have a tree where I could preferably have a 3/4 diameter of vision of a possible clearing. Then have you on the other side having your own 3/4 resulting in out 3/4's meeting together giving us a nice 360 degree of vision. It would be kind of like the Byakugan," I said.

"Yeah, that could work. And maybe have Nori or something scouting in the surrounding area to look for Genin that are perhaps watching you." Ryota added.

"I think that can work... Are you ready?" I said.

"Ya, lead the way!" Ryota exclaimed.

"Alright!" I began to run looking at clearing and trees, until I found the perfect one, about half a kilometer away from our encounter with the snake man.

I gently laid Sasuke and Naruto down. I put a wet towel on Sasuke's head to try to bring down his fever.

"All right, Ryota, are you in position?" I called.

"Yeah." he said.

I quickly did the Ram, then Tiger sign.

"Water Release: Starch Syrup Capturing Field!" I exclaimed letting a sticky liquid flow out of my covered about 30 meters of my side of the tree out of about 60 to 70 the remaining 30 to 40 meters, I threw caltrops that Haku insisted I needed. It covered about 20 meters leaving around 10 meters out in the open for anyone to walk on.

"Dang, I'm almost out of chakra, at this rate, I might not be able to summon Nori," I said.'I'll have to make do, and let him stay out there in the bushes.'

"Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Sheep! Summoning Jutsu!" I said slamming my hand on the ground after biting appeared. The familiar rabbit with a dagger in it's mouth appeared.

"I'm so glad it's you!" I exclaimed.

"Wow, Summoner-sama, you sure have changed from when I last saw you!" he said.

"Yeah, I guess..."

"So, I guess you need me for something!" he said.

"Yeah, I want you to stay in the bushes and alert me if you sense or smell anyone. And if possible attack them," I said.

"Hai, Summoner-sama!" he said, leaping over the sticky liquid running into the bushes.

'While I can, I'm going to meditate, see if I can regain a little chakra. But I will for sure be alert as well.' I thought as I closed one of my eyes and began to relax as I watched the night come and go quickly. I was exhausted, though I did meditate, I didn't get any sleep or gain a lot of chakra. So I ended up eating one of Ryota's food pills to give me energy , I heard a noise.

I turned and saw it was a squirrel.

"Gosh, that scared me..." I murmured.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" I heard a voice say. I saw Nori and he threw a dagger that was in his mouth at the missed, and the squirrel ran away.

"That stupid cousin of our species had a paper bomb on it's back. Someone's trying to attack. I can't pinpoint their location! But be aware!" Nori said. I narrowed my eyes.

"I just hope they don't get past my traps," I whispered.

"Do you want me to stay here and help guard your team?" Nori asked.

"Nah, go inform Ryota. I don't know if he was able to hear you. And if he decides to come over here, take his spot in guarding behind us. Okay?" I said.

"Hai, summoner-sama!" he exclaimed digging straight down and most likely tunneling over to Ryota.

I put a kunai in my hand."Heh heh... You've been up all night standing guard, eh? As of now, you're off duty. Just wake Sasuke for us. We want to take him on," a guy said coming out of the forest with his team. They were walking on the cursed 10 meters that had no traps. They walked closer.

9 meters.

8 meters.

7 meters.

Fury immediately began to flurry inside of me.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? SOME DAMN SNAKE GUY IS THE ONE WHO'LS BEEN PULLING THE STRINGS! SO WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!?" I yelled.

They all looked shocked.

I gave them my darkest glare.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS MARK ON SASUKE'S NECK!? YOU JERKS MUST KNOW! TELL ME THEN GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled standing up.

"Hm... I wonder what Orochimaru's up to..." the boy in the middle said.

'Orochimaru?' I thought.

"Whatever, I can't walk away after hearing that! I'll destroy you, girl... And your little Sasuke too!" the boy on the side said.

"Fine. If this is what it takes to get you to talk, then I'll do what I must!" I said.

I got up and calmly walked across the sticky liquid by focusing my chakra on my feet.'Thank you, Haku, for teaching me this.'

I did the sign of the Dog.

"Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals..." I an instant 21 ice mirrors were around the group of ninjas.

I ran into the mirror, and copies of me surrounded them.

"This is your last chance to talk before you go through a load of pain." I said.

"Do your worst! Your stupid attack won't even hit us!" the cocky boy said.

"Very well then..." I said.

I got a group of senbon in my hand.

'Luckily, my limit of hitting my target with a senbon is 20 feet, compared to 5 feet with other throwing weapons.' I thought.

"No mercy..." I brought the senbon back.

'This is for Naruto and Sasuke!' I thought to myself as I began to assault them with infinite senbon.

Whoa dudes! I sure hope this makes up for the series of short chapters! I really do hope so!

Anime Song of the Day, Red Fraction from Black Lagoon!

That show is so AWESOME! I love Revy, she's just so bad ass!

Heh... Heh... Anyway...

I wasn't even going to do this chapter today since I was trying to catch up on Naruto (I'm so behind its sad). I got to an awesome part when I noticed a really nice review from a Guest named OtakuGoesRawr. Since I can't send them a PM saying thanks, I'll do this.

THANK YOU! And anyone else who reviews and favorites and follows: Thank you so much! You guys are awesome!

And

, Don't be Ghost Readers guys!

A reviewer's the reason I actually posted a chapter anyway, so...

Luvz and Hugz

And Thanks for Reading! ^-^

(Beta Note: sorry I was late! Had tons of homework...Gomennasai! (Sorry!))


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